arc - Business in the Community Blog

Q + A with Paul Ruddick, REDS10

We caught up with Paul Ruddick, Managing Director at REDS10, at Responsible Business Week on Tuesday to find out more about the company and its social impact. REDS10 are a social enterprise we’ve been working with who help young people into apprenticeship schemes.

What do REDS10 do?

REDS10 are an apprenticeship training agency. We help contractors and developers in construction employ local people from the area where they’re building into an apprenticeship. We do that by working with the main contractor, helping them embed it within the procurement of their subcontractors. So talking simplistically, if a large contractor is building a housing development in Hackney, we make sure local people get an apprenticeship on the development site. 

What kind of background do the people you place come from?

Most are long term unemployed or they may have gone to college but didn’t have any construction work to complete their apprenticeship. We have ex-gang members and people who didn’t finish school, so it’s basically the unemployed youth of London. A lot come from disadvantaged backgrounds so really we are taking people who haven’t had the greatest of starts in life and giving them opportunities. That’s where the social impact comes in.

How do they find out about Reds10?

We’ve got a number of different outreach methods: we place adverts, have a website they can apply on, work with local job centres, housing associations and sports clubs. We’re really trying to get to the young people of an area who need the opportunity.

Is it right to assume that the number of people who need something like this is quite high?

It is a well published fact that unemployment for young 16-24 year olds is over 1 million, so yes. We are employing people and training them up so at the end of it they can go into a long term sustainable employment. We want to break the low-pay no-pay cycle in youngsters.

What are your core beliefs as a social enterprise?

As a social enterprise we want to give young, disadvantaged residents of London the opportunity to do an apprenticeship. So our actual pure business model is that it has social impact within it. It’s not a tag on to the business, or thinking ‘we’ll make X amount of money and then re invest it.’ Our whole business model is about social impact, so our core belief is that the more efficient we are, the bigger the social impact.

In your opinion what is the importance of apprenticeship schemes? 

People need to get trained up - there seems to be a lot of disconnect when young people go for a job. I trained as Chartered Quantity Surveyor which took me four years to do. I will always have that skill and I still use it every day after 14 years. So I think any young person needs an apprenticeship or trade, whether it’s called an ‘apprenticeship’ or ‘internship’, or ‘training on the job’. A qualification is  a badge of quality. 

Are these qualifications hard to gain for someone who comes from a disadvantage background where courses are too expensive, or are from an area where a place on a course is hard to come by?

I think what has happened in the past is a lot of courses do not have a job at the end. We flip it around and have a job to start with, then we’ll get the person, enroll them into college and take care of that. Apprenticeships are industry relevant, whereas a lot of college course aren’t.

How many apprentices have you placed?

Since we started three and a half years ago we have placed over 300 people. We currently have 170 on our books. I’m pretty happy with that as I feel without our intervention, these 300+ people wouldn’t have gone on an apprenticeship. It’s having a big social impact.

How have BITC helped REDS10?

They’ve helped me in a number of ways. The first thing is through their arc programme they have connected us with a couple of businesses, the primary one being BP. Also, events like Responsible Business Week allows me to speak to large companies. It gives me a chance to spread the word and as a result of my speech today I have made 3 great contacts that I’ve been trying to get to over the last 3 years who actually approached me. So overall it’s about the business advice and contacts which help us progress.

How much value has BP’s involvement added?

BP have provided a business advisor to the senior team which has been invaluable. The support BP have given us in terms of HR strategy for growth has been important. Sometimes we are in the muck and bullets in terms of growing a company, and you can’t see the woods for the trees so having someone to talk to who has experience in growing teams internationally has really helped. The support is ongoing and there has been a big impact so far. 

What would you say are the benefits for big business to become involved in social enterprise?

Big businesses employ lots of people and the people in the business may need a little something more in their day to day job to feel like they have contributed to society. Access to a social enterprise where they can give their expertise can really help to boost job satisfaction. As explained in my talk, some big businesses can’t contract directly with an SME because they are just too big, but they can offer helpful expertise and advice.

A visit to the Ragged School Museum

Earlier this week we took a step back in time with a trip to the fascinating Ragged School Museum in East London. The museum, one of the many social enterprises arc supports, is housed in what was once London’s biggest ‘ragged’ school or free school (particularly for the poor) over a century ago. This particular school was founded back in 1877 by Thomas Banardo (whose name you may recognise from the children’s charity).

One of the central highlights, along with a collection of relevant artifacts, is a classroom recreated as an exact replica of a classroom from when the school was open. The fully equipped class, complete with shabby school desks, slate writing boards and even a dunce hat and cane (for the naughty kids), is used to take the kids through a typical Victorian school lesson. 

It is all made possible with the help of the fantastic volunteers, who come from all ages and backgrounds to help out. Some, who dress in full Victorian outfits, act in character as teachers to help create an atmosphere of austere Victorian schooling. In fact, a class was taking place during our visit, and I soon jumped when the teacher slammed her cane on the desk, demonstrating the strict punishments that the children would never experience today. It also assists in giving opportunities to others for example those with learning difficulties who gain work experience by helping in the cafe and shop.

The classroom experience has proven very popular with schools in particular as children of all ages get dropped off by the coach load on a daily basis. Each year over 14,000 children come to learn about the childhoods of their great, great, great grandparents. 

General visitors are welcome between 10am and 5pm each Wednesday and Thursday, and they hold a Victorian lesson for the public between 2pm and 5pm on the first Sunday of each month

http://www.raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk

Tel: 020 8980 6405

An interview with a Visa volunteer

As part of the West London launch of arc, we’ll be working with Visa Europe to connect them with social enterprises in the area. 

We wanted to catch up with one of the new Visa Europe volunteers who would be providing their know how and experience to social enterprises looking to grow and help benefit their communities even more than they already are. 

Diane Scott is one of the volunteers who will be working with social enterprises in West London. We caught up with Diane to find out more about what made her want to get involved in volunteering. 

With which social enterprise are you getting involved?

I’m looking forwarding to finding out which social enterprise I’ll be supporting. arc are working with various social enterprises to identify their needs and then they’ll match my skills and experience to the organisation with a relevant need.

That said, I visited Bounce Back a couple of weeks ago. They will definitely be one of the enterprises Visa Europe will be working with and it would be exciting to be matched with them. They train ex-offenders coming straight out of prison, train them as painter/decorators, help them get painting contracts and ultimately they hope they will go on to set up their own independent businesses. Having met some of the ex- offenders themselves, seeing the enthusiasm they have for making a new start, the commitment of the Bounce Back team and the satisfaction of the people for whom they’ve completed painting and decorating contracts, I can see they would be an inspiring enterprise to work with. They have so much potential!

What made you want to get involved with Arc?

We already do a lot of work with young people and schools, raising their aspirations and basic skills while preparing them for the world of work. To me arc naturally builds on this by working with companies to help them grow so they can offer more jobs and give real opportunities to these young people. And working with social enterprises that have the interests of their communities at the heart of what they do feels like a double whammy. Creating local jobs within companies that improve the communities they’re in. What could be better than that?

What support will you be providing?

I don’t know what support I’ll be giving but I know it’ll be using my core communications, brand and planning skills and experience. And maybe sometimes, it will just be about providing an external, neutral point of view or reassuring them that they’re on the right track. I remember talking to the founder of one social enterprise who said ‘We make our enterprises work out of sheer passion and hard work. Sometimes, we need someone to look at things differently, to make us pause, think again and tell us there is a different, perhaps better way to look at things or to do things.”

I think the most important thing will be to listen to what they tell me and to be guided by their needs and objectives.

What do you think is the importance of projects like ‘your’ social enterprise and Arc?

I recently went on a Seeing is Believing event themed around social enterprisers. It was amazing. It dispelled all those myths about social enterprises being a new fad and little more than charities run by well intentioned “hippies”. I visited Clarity, which was established in the early 19th century. It develops and manufactures toiletries, successfully competing with well known manufacturers like Unilever and P&G. Its employee base is almost entirely made up of blind people and its main mission is to help blind people into work. I also met the founder of Spacehive - an online crowd sourcing platform for neighbourhood improvement projects. He was a young journalist who wanted to do something that would add value to society and he spotted a gap in the market to help people improve their own communities. And Blue Sky, who only employ ex-offenders and win contracts across the UK to carry out catering and gardening jobs for local authorities and commercial companies.

All of these social enterprises are run as businesses, so they’re sustainable. All of them have a purpose beyond profit that will improve the economy, the communities we live in and the lives of people who often find themselves on the margins of society. So, they make a real difference. I think that’s why they’re so important.

How important do you think it is for larger businesses to provide assistance to social enterprises?

It benefits all of us for these enteprises to flourish and succeed and larger businesses have many more resources available to them. From the breadth and depth of the knowledge and expertise we have within our business, to the sheer numbers of people we employee. If we can make a fraction of that available to social enterprises we can help them make a real impact.

And it’s not just the social enterprises that benefit. A more vibrant and varied economy with more employed and skilled people in it makes for a better environment for larger businesses to thrive in too.

I personally believe it’s also important for larger businesses to contribute to the communities in which they’re based and for the people working within them to feel that they are contributing to something meaningful beyond the commercial objectives they deal with day to day. It’s an important way for each of us to feel connected to the places in which we work and live.

What are you personally hoping to learn from working with a social enterprise?

I’m really looking forward to learning from the entrepreneurial spirit, passion and determination of these enterprises. They’ve got through the start-up phase and are now looking to build on early successes to drive continued growth. They’re responsible for the whole business from HR to product development, from regulatory compliance to publicity and customer service. It will be great to see how all of that comes together in a smaller, newer organisation, when in a larger, more established organisation that isn’t always so obvious any more. I hope I can bring some of that learning and passion back to my team in Visa Europe.

If I’m really honest, I’m a little bit worried that I might learn more than the social enterprise will!

Q + A with Peter Ayliffe, Visa Europe’s CEO

arc West London Launch Event Report

Last night at the wonderful Hub Westminster, New Zealand House, we were delighted to play host to an event that broke new territory for arc, as well as including a social enterprise Christmas market, amazing food from The People’s Supermarket and some luminaries from the world of social enterprise and big business who joined us to celebrate the announcement that arc will be extending its services to West London, aiming to 1000 jobs by 2016 in addition to the 1000 target for East London by 2015.

In attendance were representatives of Visa Europe, Deloitte and BP as the social enterprises arc will be assisting in West London – Bounce Back and Action Acton.

Upon arrival, our guests were greeted by a Christmas market with all goods on offer either being created or supported by social enterprise. Jewellery, knitwear and greetings cards came from Action Acton traders, with calendars from Bounce Back and delicious canapés supplied by The People’s Supermarket.

Speeches came from Paul Cuttill OBE (arc Chair), Stephen Howard (Business in the Community), Peter Ayliffe (Visa Europe), Andy Holmes (BP) Fran Findlater (Bounce Back) and John Blackmore (Action Acton), as well as touching testimony from those already helped by the West London social enterprises.

When asked why arc appealed to Visa Europe, CEO Peter Ayliffe told us “as a CEO, the most important thing is creating jobs. What I like about social enterprise is that it’s a great way of encouraging employment in deprived areas, so it resonates perfectly with Visa’s ethos.”

Fran Findlater, one of the people behind Bounce Back, a very successful West London based social enterprise focused on getting newly released prisoners into work, said that she was drawn to arc because “arc bring all important infrastructure, especially with companies like Visa. They bring the back end support and fundamental support that is vital for a growing business to help us on our journey.”

The purpose of our event was to celebrate a new era for arc, and thanks to everyone in attendance, we’ve never been more excited about this new challenge. Here’s to the future.

Business in the Community launches arc in West London - which aims to create 2,000 jobs through social enterprise.

As the most amazing year of sport draws to a close and the nation asks ‘what will the long term legacy be from the Games?’ Business in the Community today announced the extension of its legacy programme arc – building better business - a programme to create a lasting social legacy stimulating the creation and growth of financially sustainable social enterprises – enabling them to provide employment opportunities for 2000 local people in deprived communities of London.

In addition to the Olympic host boroughs arc will from today support social enterprises to create jobs in Ealing, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea & Harrow, Hammersmith & Fulham, Spelthorne and Brent. The programme will combine the expertise and resources of founder partners Deloitte, BP and Visa Europe with Business in the Community’s 30 years experience campaigning on responsible business issues and challenging corporations to make a positive impact on their communities. It will support social enterprises that will both tackle some of the social economic issues facing the host boroughs and create much-needed jobs.

The first two social enterprises to receive support from arc West London are:

Bounce Back - a charity and a social enterprise focussed on training and employment of ex- offenders in its painting and decorating company.

Bounce Back works to reduce re-offending, keep communities safer and save the government and taxpayer money, whilst building a highly professional and enthusiastic team of painter decorators.

Bounce Back has supported over 100 people into paid employment in the last year and continues to grow.

http://www.bouncebackproject.com/

Calendars from Bounce Back

Action Acton - tackles poverty by helping individuals improve their lives through education, training and employment. Their core objective is to “promote economic and community regeneration in Acton, Ealing and adjoining West London boroughs”.

Action Acton works with over 2000 people each year helping young people in trouble, lone parents, older people, people with disabilities and mental health difficulties, ex-offenders, refugees and ethnic minorities. They help improve their soft skills such as self-confidence and motivation but also work on their English, Maths and basic IT skills. All of this combined, improves their ability to get an education, get on a training programme and employment which will improve their and their children’s’ lives.

http://www.actionacton.com/

Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive, Social Enterprise UK – the lead strategic partner on the arc project said: “This is a really exciting project. arc is helping to raise awareness of social enterprise across the capital. It’ll be terrific to see social enterprises start-up and grow in some of London’s most deprived boroughs. Not only will jobs be provided at a time when youth unemployment is at an all time high, but whole communities will benefit because social enterprises are a force for good – they exist to tackle social issues and environmental problems.”

Part of the Social Enterprise Christmas Market at today’s launch event

Jane Pritchard, Enterprise Director at Business in the Community said: “We’re excited to be extending the reach of arc today at a time when jobs and inspiration are much needed in our communities. Over the past year we have proved that the programme works supporting 35 social enterprises to create nearly 100 jobs – as we now scale up we are on target to create 2000 jobs and we are looking forward to increasing our impact as we plan for a national roll out later this year.”

Expanding into West London is hugely important for arc, and we’re confident that by assisting social enterprises in doing their fantastic work, we can help to have a positive effect on local communities. If you have any questions, you can find us on Twitter or Facebook, or visit the website here.