Celebrating
Something seems to happen whenever the Ideas into Action team plans to meet. Is it fate? Luck? Or is it simply that the magical power which our meetings always have needs balancing with a cooling dose of reality?
When we had our inaugural workshop in London on 1 March in London there was a tube strike. And to add a little more salt to our planning, there was a spectacular thunderstorm with torrential rain. Part of being an entrepreneur is learning to expect the unexpected and adapt – fast. Undeterred, the team worked around the obstacles and set up a call so that our fledgling social entrepreneurs could somehow reach the venue (some dripping wet..) and one participant could take part online. It worked surprisingly well and the group started to open up to each other quickly, sharing their experiences and ideas.
Journeys
Fast forward 4 months and our graduation event was planned at Mercato Metropolitano – a vibrant south London venue. This market-style paradise for food-lovers is run by local entrepreneurs including several who are graduates of TERN’s social entrepreneur programmes for refugees. It’s lively and informal. It was perfect. What happened? Clue: It was the last week of June. Yes, you guessed it – there was the biggest national rail strike for years. Were we going to let this put us off? No chance! Top prize for determination goes to Mjed Kouri, founder of WeReBuild who travelled for an astonishing 9 hours to reach the venue. If that doesn’t impress you and encourage you to support his venture, nothing will!
Caption: Mjed Kouri arrives at the event after a gruelling 9-hour journey – still smiling!
Fred Kastner and Lucas Farthing from TERN, our close partners for this programme, worked their magic with video calls to two participants who could not take part in person. This involved media-style chats between the group and those at home:
We were honoured that Kieran Lewis from the Global Fund for Children joined the event. Kieran was our key contact at The National Lottery Community Fund when we developed the Ideas into Action project. His interest and encouragement played an important role in turning our idea into a live project. Kieran gave a short speech explaining why he believed so strongly in the project. He emphasised the potentially huge impact which the new social entrepreneurs could have with their work.
Kieran then presented certificates to the graduates, including showing them to those on screen!
Caption: Mariam Tahir, founder of Coffee with Kids
Caption: Yusuf Ciftci, founder of Experts By Experience Employment Network receiving his certificate online.
Caption: Abdulrahman Alhalawani, founder of Mouneh, receiving his certificate from Kieran Lewis.
The graduates were also presented with a specially designed T-shirt produced by one of their group, Ravi Rasaiah, founder of Payanam. You will notice that Hormoz, Fred and Lucas were keen to model this too!
Ravi also surprised everyone by producing copies of a new book for each of us with photographs he has taken, explaining his experiences and how Payanam has come to life.
Endings and beginnings
This was a joyful evening. There was a feeling of excitement as well as nervousness in the air. We were closing one chapter (the formal part of the programme) while another had already opened. Most of the group had started crowdfunding for their ventures. On graduation day, two of our social entrepreneurs achieved their targets for crowdfunding – surely a good sign!
Finally, we wanted to mention the photographer who took the beautiful pictures for this event. Adiam Yemane is an Eritrean refugee who is developing a highly successful photography business. We were delighted that she could work with us. When you want a job doing, think about how you could make more of your choice. Who could benefit the most? Do consider buying ‘social’ if you can.
And there is still just enough time to support our first cohort of Ideas into Action social entrepreneurs. Find out more here.