1: REDS10
Employees: 13
Turnover to year-ending September 2011: £300,000
Projected turnover April 2012 to March 2013: £2.35m
Investment attracted: £300,000 (£150,000 from UnLtd's Big Venture Challenge matched against £150,000 from an angel investor)
REDS10 helps unemployed individuals get off benefits and into apprenticeships in the building industry. It also provides support to local authorities and registered social landlords to improve the employability and financial position of tenants by providing fully funded apprenticeships with contractors for 24-36 months.
The organisation was founded in 2009 by Tom Storey and Paul Ruddick. Growth has since been swift, notably winning a contract to deliver a project to the Olympic Athletes' Village with 96 apprentices in the host boroughs. "Our growth has been achieved through a clear understanding of who our customer is, what they want and why", says Storey, who has 12 year's experience of working within construction. "Most of our growth has been through doing more work with our existing clients. We have worked hard at looking at what we can do in terms of creating value for our clients."
While growth in building is relatively unheard of because of the lack of projects, Storey believes a social enterprise status has helped. "The key to achieving scale in a social enterprise is to be very clear on the social impact you are looking to make and to ensure there is a sufficient market demand for the offer you have. I think a very clear focus on what you do, and communicating it effectively is also very important".
REDS10 aims to grow nationally by employing 324 apprentices in 2012 and 447 in 2013.
2: Beyond Youth
Employees: 7
Turnover for last 12 months: £109,864
Investment attracted: £100,000 (£50,000 from UnLtd's Big Venture Challenge and £50,000 from Venturesome)
Beyond Youth deliver programmes principally within UK prisons to improve rehabilitation results and reduce re-offending. Its Chance 2 Change programme addresses the emotional causes of offending, viewing offending as an addiction.
Emma Morris designed Chance 2 Change in 2004 with support from Dr Neil Brener, former medical director at the Priory hospital group, and began delivering it to clients and funders, including Essex police, The Prince's Trust and Colchester United. With her experience of working within the criminal justice system, Morris secured her first custodial contracts in 2009.
"The key to our growth is largely in our ability to deliver solid results", says Morris. Reputation is crucial, as is a scalable business model. "The initial Chance 2 Change programme is now available as a social franchise model which any interested organisation can purchase and receive a package of training and support ... the next stage of our expansion plan is to secure a roll out [of the franchise] across a cluster of prisons in the south-west which will see us offering our programmes to new client groups such as life sentence prisons, remands and short sentence prisoners."
Beyond Youth plans to adapt its approach for the long term unemployed, those experiencing low-level mental health concerns and young people leaving care. While the recession has made growth harder, says Morris: "We firmly believe that if you have the right product then the market will absorb it."
3: Sweet Project
Employees: 9
Turnover for last 12 months: £230,000
Investment attracted: £100,000 (£80,000 from Big Issue Invest and £20,000 from UnLtd)
The Social Work Education, Employment and Training (Sweet) Project is a training and development centre which provides social care services to families and adults in the top five per cent of disadvantage (based on the index of deprivation).
The Sweet Project emerged in 2009 when both Jayne Hulbert and Jayne Cresswell were made redundant after the closure of family support services to the residents of Kings Norton. After working in the area for over 10 years, they decided that they would try and re-establish a service, basing their business model on using student placement fees as a revenue source. They started with nine students in a school hall, and have gone on to provide 100 student placements each year and employ seven additional full-time staff.
"Our original business plan was basically our vision and passion," says Cresswell. "We knew the market and where our product offer could fit, however, we have continually changed and adopted new things as we have developed." New sales plans include focusing on partnerships and developing new services to local authorities.
To date, the Sweet Project has worked with more than 400 families, helped 100 children stay with their families, preventing them from being taken into care, supported 80 families to remain in their tenancies, helped 50 young people stay in school, and intervened in 40 cases of domestic violence.
Finding a scalable model, says Cresswell, "has been about a few key things: having a strong product; being in a market with growth potential; securing appropriate finance; and having a great team of people."
4: One and Other
Employees: 5 full-time but a contributor network of 200+
Turnover for last 12 months: Figure not yet available
Investment attracted: Launched via a £2,500 grant from UnLtd and recently secured a £12,500 loan from Key Fund Yorkshire.
One and Other launched on 1 September 2011 with a mission to re-invent local media for a new generation and to act as catalysts for change in York. Founded by Stuart Goulden, managing director, it has grown to include an editor and three other full-time staff, and is currently advertising for two further positions.
"It's fair to say our momentum is in the opposite direction to our more traditional competitors, although we've worked our socks off to get here", says Goulden. "Trying to do something new and, more importantly, something better, isn't easy regardless of the market conditions … [but] traditional competitors are too busy managing decline to think beyond cost cutting, which presents opportunities to young startups such as ourselves."
Based on the early success of its local news and culture website oneandother.com (shortlisted alongside national titles at the 2012 Newspaper Awards), One&Other TV and a bi-monthly magazine were added to its media portfolio. The company has further diversified by launching a brand and communications agency The Creative Chapel.
"As a social enterprise, we have a clear vested interest in the communities we serve, with the profit we generate reinvested into delivering greater social impact," says Goulden. "As a result, we believe this is a far more sustainable model than existing merely to furnish shareholders' pockets. We've found that both the local community and local businesses share this viewpoint, and their support allows us to punch above our weight."
5. Belu
Employees: 6
Turnover for last 12 months: £3m
Investment attracted: Three Angel investors: Body Shop's Gordon Roddick, Ben Goldsmith and billionaire hedge-fund manager Chris Cooper-Hohn
Belu was founded in 2004 to become the most environmentally sound bottled water available, including biodegradable plastic bottles. All profits going to clean water projects in Africa and Asia.
From 2004 to 2009 Belu was fulfilling its mission, but by 2010 it was losing money. A decision was taken to restructure the business model completely and bring in a new chief executive, Karen Lynch, previously Barclays' head of branch marketing. "The new business strategy I recommended included a move from direct sale to using wholesale as a route to market, the adoption of new technologies and the championing of new recycled materials", says Lynch. "We created a completely new brand identity and formed a formal charity partnership. The principle behind the plan was that being the world's most ethical water brand was a great idea, but it had to be executed strongly and efficiently."
Overheads were cut and a new "virtual" head office introduced. From losing money in 2009, Belu gave WaterAid £199,100 in 2011, exceeding targets. With an eco-conscious brand promise never to export its products, shelf space for Belu was secured at Sainsbury's and working relationships developed with the restaurant chains Fifteen, Nobu, Sketch and Zizzi.
"We want to ... inspire other companies and demonstrate that being ethical and having sustainable business practices can yield excellent financial results", says Lynch. "We'd like to prove that, as a social enterprise, it's possible to compete with successful mainstream brands".
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