Social Enterprise Academy, Annual Report 2021/2022

Annual report

2021/2022

“Education does not change the world. Education changes people.

People change the world.

”

Paulo Freire

Neil McLean, Chief Executive

“If you are doing something pretty neat in Social Enterprise, you have a duty to share it!”

So said one of Scotland’s most prominent social entrepreneurs, Mel Young, of the Homeless World Cup, speaking at a conference I attended about 10 years ago.

Ever since then, we have been sharing our “pretty neat” transformational learning programmes to support people around the world to solve social problems by adopting sustainable, entrepreneurial solutions.

The world has woken up to the fact that to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals we need to start acting – seriously and quickly. As a result, this year, the Social Enterprise Academy decided to articulate a BHAG1, which emerged as, “Creating fairer communities by facilitating 10 million social entrepreneurs globally by 2030”.

Most people think that if we want to change the world, we need large companies to make big steps. We don’t agree - that is only part of the story. Investing in millions of changemakers, in the people themselves who care deeply about their community, is the way we are going to make this change happen.

Thank you for your ongoing support to this venture and thanks to the hundreds of people in the Academy family who are committed to supporting this vision.

1BHAG, which stands for “Big Hairy Audacious Goal”, was a term coined by Jim Collins in his “Good to Great” book. Some people prefer the term Bold and Brave goal. Whatever you call it, organisations need to have one – a direction of travel which then informs the debate about “how are we going to get there?”.

Investing in millions of changemakers, in the people themselves who care deeply about their community, is the way we are going to make this change happen.”

Ellen tacoma, International Chief Executive

I joined the Social Enterprise Academy as International CEO2 in September 2021 as part of our ambitious growth strategy to support people leading change around the world.

Covid-19 has been especially difficult for our less-established hub teams who were still in pilot phase when the pandemic started. As we enter a new phase of our sustainable growth strategy, we will be reducing our number of hubs over the next 12 months to consolidate our international network. By taking this difficult but essential step, we will be able to start this new phase in the strongest possible position and continue the incredible work started by local teams in the near future.

With recent calculations showing that we won’t achieve the SDGs until 2092, it’s clear that we need a change in direction and approach. A world in transformation needs transformational leaders. Now is the time to be creative, courageous, and invest in the development of people leading change.

In order to create a fairer, more equitable world, we need to empower the existing and future social entrepreneurs in communities. That is exactly what we aim to do by 2030.

By collaborating with existing and new partners to support the inner development of social entrepreneurs, we can harness the power of millions of communities to create ripples of change and achieve the SDGs.

2 Ellen Tacoma is the CEO of Social Enterprise Academy International CIC, a community interest company limited by shares registered in Scotland Company No. 544394 since 2016.

Neil McLean is the CEO of Social Enterprise Academy (Scotland) a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland No. 272855 and a Scottish Charity No. SC035936 since 2004.

In order to create a fairer, more equitable world, we need to empower the existing and future social entrepreneurs in communities. That is exactly what we aim to do by 2030.”

Creating

The social entrepreneurs participating in activities to address the needs of their community

Communities

A group of people, defined either by geography or by a shared purpose

Facilitating 1om

Engaged directly in an active learning process with us

Fairer Access to equitable opportunities

Social entrepreneurs

Anyone who is doing something to help solve a social and/or environmental problem in their community

SEA International Network

Launched in Scotland in 2004, the Social Enterprise Academy started replicating internationally through a social franchise model in 2016.

Hub teams around the world now offer our accredited learning programmes in their communities, developed by local partners and facilitated by local social change leaders. Thanks to our international network, we have also been able to collaborate with global ecosystem partners to deliver transformational learning to social entrepreneurs in more than twenty countries.

Learning Programmes Delivered

Social Enterprise Academy Hub Partner SCOTLAND

121 LOCAL PRACTITIONER FACILITATORS

Safe space

We specialise in creating safe spaces for leaders to reflect, share experiences with a community of peers and find creative solutions to their challenges.

28,000+ ADULT LEARNERS

55,795 YOUNG PEOPLE ENGAGED

200+ ECOSYSTEM PARTNERS

Accredited Learning

Our accredited programmes ensure learners have access to quality learning and development through our status as an ILM centre.

Experienced facilitators

Our experienced facilitators are social change leaders themselves - they understand the challenges facing learners and are skilled in both ‘in the room’ and online facilitation.

*Our track record since 2004

Financial Summary

This financial year we have seen increased income due to increased grant funding from The Scottish Government to grow Social Enterprise Schools across Scotland. We have also seen increased sales as we move into the Covid-19 recovery period. Expenditure has also increased to accommodate this additional programme delivery as stated below.

(5.4%)

2021/22: £127,388 (6.3%)

Our year in numbers

In 2021/22 we have focused on delivering more 6-day programmes as opposed to the shorter 2-day Covid response programmes that made up a large percentage of our delivery in 2020/21. We have also increased Social Enterprise Schools pilots in 2021/22, responding to the growing need for countries to tackle youth unemployment and support their young people through the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

Programmes

Our Theory of change

Our programmes are designed to be a catalyst for wider social impact. The below diagram explains the connection between the experience all learners have on any Academy programme, and how this ripples through communities and organisations for social change. LEA

R N ING

Peer Learning

Experiential

Reflective

Responsive to Context

Safe & Supportive

Through this, participants develop skills, networks and behaviours necessary to step up as change makers in their communities.

LEARNING TO CHANGE THE WORLD

EXPERIENCE

ORGANISAT I O NAL RESULT BEHAVIOU

Evidence shows these new insights and learning result in transformational behaviour change.

This behaviour change supports the development of resilient, sustainable and purpose-led organisations.

The stronger those organisations become, the greater social impact they can deliver.

R CHANGE

SOCIAL IMPACT

Transformational learning

A world in transformation needs transformational leaders. Our learning programmes do exactly that – enable transformational learning: “learning that results in a fundamental shift in ones world-view, which in turn leads to profound changes in thoughts, feelings and actions.”

We evaluate our individual programmes according to the Kirkpatrick model and carry out an independent impact review every 3 years which evaluates the impact of our learning on individuals, their organisations and wider society.

Behaviour Change

IDENTITY THINKING ACTIONS RESULTS

94% 94%

of learners improve how they do things and enhance their performance

of learners reframe their perspectives and how they think about things

74%

of learners experience transformational learning through a profound shift in their beliefs or experiences of themselves and others

Organisational Result Social Impact

83% Communicate more effectively within their organisations

91% Enhanced staff motivation within organisations

83% Of learners working towards the Sustainable Development Goals said their learning has contributed towards their achievement of the goals.

Young people

World Economic Forum, “Unlocking the Social Economy Towards an Inclusive and Resilient Society”, 2022

“It is vital to inspire young people with the vision of the Social Economy and to equip them with the knowledge, technical skills and leadership qualities needed to lead this sector forward.”

Social Enterprise Schools

Innovated in 2007 in partnership with The Scottish Government, Social Enterprise Schools enables every young person to step up, realise their potential, and create the change they want to see in the world. By giving young people a real life experience of running their own social enterprise, this programme delivers transformational learning which impacts them, their school and their community.

Social Enterprise Schools has been delivered across 7 countries, to 55,795 young people. 1,103 schools are running social enterprises through Social Enterprise Schools and 2,765 teachers have been supported through development sessions.

Social Enterprise Schools

allowed so many members of my class a chance to be creative, innovative and enjoy trying new ways to overcome obstacles. The sense of team created through the project was great.

Pupil, Dornoch Academy, Scotland

Scotland

Connecting young people to their community while improving pupil well-being.

Egypt

Supporting vulnerable communities in Cairo through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Australia

Empowering young people in rural Victoria to become job creators, not only job seekers.

Malaysia

Developing essential life skills in financial literacy and creativity through social enterprise.

South Africa

Becoming agents of change in their local communities while developing key employability skills.

England

Following our initial pilot in 2019, we have recently re-launched across London and the south east of England.

ASEAn

The ASEAN Social Enterprise Development programme is an accelerator that empowers youth-led social enterprises across the ASEAN region.

40 learners from 20 social enterprises across the 10 ASEAN nations gained invaluable insights from industry leaders and fellow social entrepreneurs. They also took part in 3 months of interactive online learning sessions, a tailored capacity building and mentorship programme, and had the opportunity to pitch for $7,000 funding at a demo day.

By growing the social enterprise support ecosystem, we can ensure the ASEAN region exists now and long into the future as a thriving hub for global and local social enterprises.

The programme gave us the opportunity to think deeply about our business and how to grow it alongside industry experts and mentors. We had the opportunity to interact with, learn from, and connect with a cohort of likeminded leaders who care about the world and making it a better place”.

Tessa Charupatanapongse (Singapore) Founder of MindTerra, Former Programme Lead at Borderless 360

Mindanao State University

iBLEnDNICE 4WomEn (innovation through Building and Leveraging Entrepreneurship Development, Networking and Inclusive Community Engagement for Women Entrepreneurs) is an incubation programme for young women-led social enterprises in the Philippines.

As part of this programme, SEA facilitated networking days and pitching events for learners to develop and connect with social enterprise peers from the Philippines and internationally who were solving similar social issues to them. Learners were also able to grow their confidence, develop their reflective practice and put tools in place to grow these valuable peer networks beyond the programme.

I’m a first-time mum and can’t manage my work and personal life like I could when I was single. So exploring that topic in the programme helped give me reassurance that are still lots of opportunities for women like me.”

Leah Rasay Husay, Founder & CEO at Husay Co.

Women

Putting women and girls at the centre of economies will fundamentally drive better and more sustainable development outcomes for all, support a more rapid recovery, and place us back on a footing to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“

United Nations, “The Impact of Covid-19 on Women”, 2020

Introduction to social enterprise

Introduction to Social Enterprise supported women in vulnerable communities and organisations in Cairo, Egypt to become more enterprising and financially sustainable.

Over 3 months, 83 learners developed their skills, behaviours and mind-sets in key areas such as; enterprising leadership, managing change and rebuilding income streams in order to help them pivot in response to the covid-19 pandemic.

This is the first time I’ve been made to feel like a human being. I was given the space to freely and safely express my needs, concerns and opinions in the presence of my manager and other senior members of the project. Discussions were rich and the space was given for 2-way communication for the first time in a long time.”

Reda, Akhmim Community Member

Community of Practice Building

Supporting Social Enterprises Navigating COVID-19 was a capacity building programme supporting women-led social enterprises in South East Asia respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Designed and delivered in partnership with AVPN, British Council and HSBC, up-to-100 women-led social enterprises took part from across Singapore, Malaysia & Vietnam. Learners were able to build a peer support network with each other while developing their resilience in key areas such as; managing change, rebuilding income streams and leading remotely.

The programme gave me a refreshing sense of their being light at the end of the tunnel. It also highlighted the need to look inwards first to help build yourself up. It was amazing to learn from all of the other female entrepreneurs and their insights were so inspiring.”

Programme Participant

Communities

“By operating in a bottom-up way and being close to communities, citizens and the problems they face, social economy entities have the capacity to find innovative solutions [to societal challenges].”

European Commission, “Building an economy that works for people: An action plan for the social economy”, 2021

New scots

This collaboration between the Social Enterprise Academy and the Scottish Refugee Council offered refugees the opportunity to step forward as leaders for their communities and shape a new future. 14 emerging leaders participated in the 12 day programme. Together they developed strategic leadership skills, accessed tools to create impact and built a strong community with other refugees living in Scotland.

Community leaders play such a vital role in our society, building bridges and breaking down barriers. At such a difficult time for refugee rights in the UK, programmes like this are a life changing opportunity to build new skills, make new connections and build the welcoming future for refugees that we want to see.

It is more important now than ever before to harness and invest in the goodwill and talents of our refugee leaders to change outcomes for others seeking sanctuary.”

Sabir Zazai, Chief Executive at Scottish Refugee Council

Steps to sustainability

Steps to Sustainability aims to increase the sustainability of heritage organisations across the UK by developing key leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Learners are equipped with tools, support and funding to successfully turn a new business idea into reality and contribute to a more sustainable future. This exciting heritage programme was delivered in 2020 and 2021 to 110 learners. 86% reported an increase in confidence when implementing an income generating idea.

I have gained a greater insight into the leader that I am and the leader that I want to be in the future. I have a clear vision now of our organisation’s ‘why’ and how it is important to keep it as a driving force in any new enterprise or project.”

We have a clearer direction for the development of our fundraising ideas and will now be able to devote more resources to allow them to meet their potential.”

Guy

Grace Nelis,Business Development Manager at Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin

Corbett-Marshall, Chief Executive at Woodland Heritage

Leading in cultural tourism

Leading in Cultural Tourism supports Irish and Scottish Gaelic speakers to shape the development of cultural tourism in their areas.

As well as developing their own leadership skills, 20 tourism leaders from Ireland and Scotland developed a strategic cultural tourism plan and a peer-network of Gaelic-speaking tourism leaders. This network will help them realise their cultural tourism vision and plan for the sustainable development of their own organisations beyond the programme.

The combination of the people who were recruited to join the programme and the diversity of speakers and other participants meant there was an excellent balance of participants with issues in common and a wide range of approaches to tackle possible problems.”

Rónán Ó Dochartaigh, Language Director at Oideas Gael

Social Enterprise connect

Social Enterprise Connect is a community of practice that brings together social entrepreneurs from across South Africa. It offers a safe space for them to connect, learn, collaborate and grow together to find solutions to the challenges facing their organisations and communities.

434 social entrepreneurs attended from across all nine provinces in South Africa.

This programme lit a fire beneath me that refuses to allow me to sit still. As a result, I have picked up momentum. I am looking forward to connecting with individuals that will bring fresh perspectives or innovation in benefiting the youth, women and children.”

Ncumisa Mfenqa, Beyond Dreams Mentoring

Environment

“The global changes needed to combat the Climate Emergency are huge. While most social enterprises are small, the philosophical foundation from which we operate is profound enough to help immediately. Social enterprise is a climate-friendly new way of doing business.

Social Enterprise World Forum, “Statement to COP26”, 2021

Seeds of change

Now in its second year, Seeds of Change gives local social enterprises in South Africa the chance to become part of the Food Lover’s Market corporate supply chain. As well as a 2-day online learning programme,10 social enterprise leaders took part in a week-long social enterprise bootcamp and a final pitch event to senior executives at Food Lover’s Market.

3 of these social enterprises have now become suppliers for Food Lover’s Market, compared to the 1 winner that was originally planned.

For us it means we get to drive even more impact in the remotest of villages by simply complementing their knowledge and skills with training, coaching, and supporting communities to be self-sufficient and in harmony with their environment.”

Portia Morudi, Founder of The Village Market whose product ‘Noju Honey’ is now available at Food Lover’s Market.

Project Vision

Project VISION (Virtual Impact Storytelling in Our Networks) saw pioneering young people from Scotland and Malaysia come together to develop storytelling skills and virtual storytelling techniques as tools to help tackle climate change.

Delivered as part of British Council’s A.R.C Challenge Malaysia, 21 young people explored environmental challenges and collaborated to create innovative solutions in response to climate change. The programme ended with a week-long impact storytelling festival, which took place online during COP26 in Glasgow.

Project VISION focused a lot on storytelling; through the stories and through listening, it prompted us to reflect. It helped us to understand ourselves more, and through that it helped me to connect with my community and take action.”

RuYi Teh (Malaysia) Founder of The Ripple Effect

Strengthening our commitment to Equity, Diversity & Inclusion [EDI]

1. Facilitating inclusive learning experiences

Over the past year, we have continued to upskill our global facilitator network in inclusive and online facilitation. We are also working to ensure the content of our programmes reflects a wider range of culturally diverse global thinkers as well as actively featuring equity, diversity and inclusion as a topic on our leadership programmes. All of our core learning and development programmes are now available online while our online learning platform facilitates self-directed learning and a blended learning model.

2. Making our transformational programmes more accessible than ever

We have always been proud to take our learning programmes into communities to empower changemakers making an impact at a local level. Thanks to our growing learning offer, we’ve been able to adapt our delivery method based on community needs, e.g. facilitating online programmes in areas with limited transport or where individuals have responsibilities at home. This also enables us to connect changemakers from different communities at a national and international level.

3. Embedding EDI into our organisation

Our EDI Working Group includes internal and external representatives, and provides constructive challenge to drive forward our work on creating an environment where every single person connected with us can truly be themselves and reach their fullest potential. This work is benefited from the sharing and learning in return from our International Hub Network.

Diverse forces

A social enterprise created by St Albert’s Primary in Scotland through Social Enterprise Schools that aims to tackle the lack of representation in children’s literature by writing, illustrating and publishing books cowritten by three BAME authors.

Yvonne Strachan CBE, Chair of trustees

During this year the Academy family has done a remarkable job in responding to the continuing impact of the Covid pandemic. Through the efforts of all, the Academy has maintained its provision of high -quality learning and development and has done an excellent job across the range of its programmes. At the same time the Academy has been forward looking – considering what more it can do to support social enterprise in the face of the current economic, social and climatic challenges. It is determined to remain fit for purpose and to lay a pathway for its longer-term sustainability and operation.

I would like to thank the Board for their vision, engagement and contribution. I would also like to thank our excellent CEOs and staff for their passion, commitment and sheer hard work and to thank our facilitators and supporters without whom our work would be impossible. To all those who have participated and shared in the learning, I hope you continue to benefit from the experience.

We couldn’t do what we do without the support from our funders and this year we are particularly grateful to the Scottish Government for enabling us to grow the Social Enterprise Schools programme. We also do not work in isolation. We value our partnerships and role in the eco-system of support for social enterprise in Scotland.

Experiential learning and development, the heart of what the Academy does, supports social enterprise and social entrepreneurs navigate the vagaries of this challenging world, realise their full potential and make positive change. In this the Academy never ceases to inspire. If Heraclitus is right that ‘’change is the only constant in life”, then our work is not only vital now but will continue to be invaluable for the future.

If Heraclitus is right that ‘’change is the only constant in life”, then our work is not only vital now but will continue to be invaluable for the future.”

Governance

We have two highly engaged Boards with members from the private, public and third sectors. Our board is supported by sub-committees and advisory groups which offer strong leadership together with rigorous financial oversight.

Social Enterprise Academy (Scotland) Board:

Social Enterprise Academy (Scotland) a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland No. 272855 and a Scottish Charity No. SC035936 since 2004.

YVONNE STRACHAN (Chair) MORAG MATHIESON (Vice Chair until February 2022) HANNAH DENT

JULIE WAITES GREGORY KINSMAN-CHAUVET PAUL CHOWDHRY ROLAND BRINKMAN

Social Enterprise Academy International CIC Board:

Social Enterprise Academy International CIC, a community interest company limited by shares registered in Scotland Company No. 544394 since 2016.

PAUL CHOWDHRY (Chair) ELLEN TACOMA NEIL MCLEAN NICK MOON YVONNE STRACHAN

During this year the Academy family has done a remarkable job in responding to the continuing impact of the Covid pandemic... I would like to thank the Board for their vision, engagement and contribution.”

Our 2021/2022 partners

Thank you to the partners, funders and supporters that we have worked with in 2021/2022.

• ASEAN Foundation

• Atlantis Leisure

• Association of Independent Museums (AIM)

• AVPN (Asian Venture Philanthropy Network)

• Big Issue Group

• Bòrd na Gàidhlig

• British Council

• British Council Malaysia

• British Council South Africa

• CEIS

• Changeworks

• Cirrus Logic

• City of Glasgow College

• CO3

• Colmcille

• Coompanion

• DYW Regional Teams

• Edinburgh College

• Education Scotland

• Educational Institute of Scotland

• Evolve

• EY Foundation

• FACT (Forres Action Community Development Trust)

• Federation of Museums & Galleries Wales

• Fife College

• Fife Council

• Firstport

• Food Lover’s Market

• GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)

• Glasgow Caledonian Students’ Association

• Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living

• GSEN

• Halifax Foundation Northern Ireland

• Highland Council

• Highlands and Islands Enterprise

• Hope Kitchen

• HSBC

• Icelantic

• ILM Highland

• Indigo Childcare

• Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)

• i-SE Birmingham

• Just Enterprise

• Kickstart Asia

• Kibble

• Kookmin University

• LINE Wangaratta

• Link

• MacTaggart Scott

• Mazars

• Mind Tools for Business

• Mindanao State University

• Miriam College

• Moody’s

• Muir of Ord Development Trust

• Museums Galleries Scotland

• National Lottery Community Fund

• National Lottery Heritage Fund

• neOOne Associates Malaysia

• New Leaf New Life CIC

• Northern Ireland Museums Council

• Pat Munro Construction

• People Matters

• Pioneers Post

• Princess Alice Hospice

• Project Trust

• Public Commercial Services Union

• Public Contracts Scotland

• Rank Foundation

• Rape Crisis Scotland

• RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport)

• ruralDimensions

• SAP

• Scottish Football Association

• Scottish Refugee Council

• Scottish Sports Futures

• Scottish Union Learning

• Sleep Scotland

• Social Enterprise Network Victoria (SENVIC)

• Social Enterprise Scotland

• Social Enterprise UK

• South of Scotland Enterprise

• Sunderland Bangladesh International Centre

• The Keith Howard Foundation

• The RS Macdonald Charitable Trust

• The Scottish Government

• The University of Edinburgh

• Údarás na Gaeltachta

• University of the Philippines

• Venture Trust

• Wise Group

• Wodonga Council

• YES (Young Enterprise Scotland)

• Youth Scotland

• YWCA (Young Woman’s Christian Association)

Our long term strategic partners

We want to say a huge thank you to all of our long term partners around the world. Without your support and investment, our work would not be possible.

How can you focus on your own ’inner development’?

We hope you have been inspired by the incredible changemakers of all ages in this report who have stepped up to create impact in their communities during 2021/2022.

Now more than ever, we need to invest in the people leading change – supporting them to develop the skills, behaviours and mind-sets needed to thrive in an everchanging world.

Based on the Inner Development Goals (IDG) Framework, which details the transformational skills and qualities needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we invite you to take 10 minutes to reflect on your own inner development today.

Image source: Inner Development Goals

1. Being - Relationship to Self

What is your relationship to your thoughts and feelings? Do you react or take time to reflect? How can you nourish this insight to have a positive impact on your own and others’ lives?

2. Thinking - Cognitive Skills

Are your current activities where you want to put your energy and attention? If not, where would you rather focus your energy and attention?

3. Relating - Caring for Others and the World

In what ways can you show compassion and empathy to those that you are connected to? How would this impact you, those around you and the society in which you live?

4. Collaborating - Social Skills

How can you manage a space where you are aware of your values while being open to different views? What impact might this have for you and your organisation?

5. Acting - Driving Change

How do you encourage the development of new ideas and thinking? How are new ideas perceived in your organisation?

www.socialenterprise.academy

SEA_Worldwide Social Enterprise Academy International SEA_International

To find out how you and your organisation can support us to create fairer communities around the world, please get in touch:

Neil McLean, Chief Executive neil@socialenterprise.academy

Ellen Tacoma, Chief Executive, SEA International ellen@socialenterprise.academy

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