Five Inspiralba graduate apprentices from different areas around Argyll and Bute headed up to Edinburgh to for a Community Learning Exchange, where we first visited Social Enterprise Scotland and then the Edinburgh Remakery. Each of us now works for a social enterprise in our area and so getting an opportunity to learn how other social enterprises and intermediaries support each other and make an impact provided lots of transferrable knowledge.
Edinburgh Remakery provides training opportunities through work placements, volunteering chances and apprenticeships. They were able to create chances for those facing barriers to employment and help them build real life working skills and raise people’s confidence who may not be in a position yet to jump into full time employment. They run free workshops for members in their wider community. These workshops could be for repairing, upgrading or maintaining their laptops and there is also a free sewing workshop. Both of these workshops prevent people from disposing of their technology or clothing as they are learning on how to give their items a second life. They collect all technology to be recycled via an electric van and use the van to send out orders that were purchased in the surrounding areas of Leith. To send out orders they try to avoid using plastic wrapping and use cardboard filling in their boxes rather than bubble wrap.
We learned they aren’t scared to trial new things as they are aware of the changing environment and that to measure outcomes the board monitor the finances on a monthly basis, do surveys and do reports on CO2. Through this experience Inspiralba now purchase laptops for clients who are on the employability programme from the Remakery.
Learning about the different efforts ‘Social Enterprise Scotland’ (SES) put into promoting diversity and providing information for social enterprises throughout Scotland was very interesting to hear. The Rural SE Hub was awesome to hear about, since providing information in a central place online – especially to those living and working in remote areas – is an invaluable resource for everyone working in a social enterprise.
One of the consistent points throughout was that social enterprises seem to keep staff numbers relatively low. Wages are a huge cost for any organisation, the potential concept of the ‘Shared Services Model’ discussed at SES was very useful. This idea revolved around the idea of smaller enterprises employing one person who works across multiple organisations to provide for each of them – thus potentially reducing staff costs, but also potentially improving networking and promoting collaboration as well. Whilst there would be legality and confidentiality issues related to this, it is this line of thinking – trying to change how we perceive job roles and building a more sustainable business model – that makes the social enterprise model appealing for continuing to search and innovate new ways to run businesses.
Learning Outcomes
- Understand the Social Enterprise Model:-Gain a comprehensive understanding of the social enterprise model, including its mission, vision, and unique value proposition.
-Explore the social impact framework and how it aligns with organizational goals. - Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI):-Understand the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in social enterprises and explore strategies for promoting a more inclusive organisational culture- Learn about best practices for engaging diverse communities and ensuring equitable access to resources and opportunities.
- Evaluate Impact and Sustainability: -Develop skills in monitoring and evaluating social impact by learning how to define measurable outcomes, collect relevant data, and assess program effectiveness -Explore strategies for scaling impact and ensuring the long-term sustainability of social enterprise initiatives.