The Social Enterprise Hub

The Social Enterprise Hub programme is a collaboration between The Abbey School, Reading School, Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship and the University of Reading. Its aim is to empower young people to develop social enterprise businesses of the future, based around the principles of the Triple Bottom Line – People, Planet and Profit.

Our vision was to help Year 12 (Lower VI) students to expand their world view, encouraging them to engage with other schools and their local communities to deliver projects that will deliver positive, tangible and sustainable benefits to the people of those communities. This programme has brought significant opportunities for the students to learn about themselves, to learn from each other and to experience more of the world beyond the school gates.

To develop their understanding of the principles of social enterprise, students received a bespoke programme of lectures from the experts at Henley Centre for Entrepreneurship, followed by workshops with specialist guest speakers and mentors from the University of Reading’s Entrepreneurs Society, there to help the teams. Over the course of two terms the students, working in small mixed teams, developed their ideas into fledgling projects. The year ended with the teams pitching detailed business plans to a panel of judges, who decided on the night to award up to £4,500 of funding for these projects to get underway.

This is the first year of the project and we are hoping to extend it to other schools in the Reading area in coming years. The second iteration of the programme is just launching and once again is heavily oversubscribed by students wanting to take part. Most excitingly, one of our projects is looking to launch in the local community in the coming year.

Impact

Savia, from The Abbey School

"I was given the opportunity to join a new initiative run by my school, and Henley Business School called the Social Enterprise Hub. Here, I received a foundation course on how to create, and sustain a social enterprise. Alongside my peers, we worked together in groups to put this theory into practice, formulating and developing our own enterprise ideas. At the end of the initiative, we pitched these ideas to a panel of judges who granted my group £1000 in start-up funding which we could potentially use to proceed with our social enterprise idea. I have decided to continue the development of my project, and I am excited to see how far I can take it with the use of my funding. My social enterprise 'Bright Pink Bins' aims to eliminate loneliness in the homeless community by providing a means of companionship and communication.  The Social Enterprise Hub has allowed me to make something of my own creation that will continue to develop to actively help my local community."

Joshua, from Reading School
"The opportunity to work academically with a neighbouring school was a new and positive experience for us. In respect of brainstorming ideas for a social enterprise, it was intriguing to hear from other perspectives, and I think that the success of our enterprise stemmed from the fact that we had a diverse set of viewpoints. The ideas brought to the sessions along with our shared passion for making a difference in our communities, allowed discussion to flow freely and harmoniously. Overall, I found it an excellent opportunity to develop organisational and independent skills in real-life scenarios - something we couldn’t get anywhere else. We are grateful to all those who helped organise the project and hope that it continues to develop for the following years."