December 20, 2012, by Hayley

Designing a social enterprise….

This year the Advantage Award introduced an exciting new module. Brought to you jointly by PwC and Teach First, the module invited students to exercise their creativity by designing and project managing their own Social Enterprise. As part of the module, students were tasked with conducting research in the Nottingham community to identify social issues that needed to be tackled and then worked in small groups to design an appropriate social enterprise that served the local community.

The module has just completed this term so we thought we’d give you an insight into what this year’s groups did…

One Up’s group vision was “to develop the potential and future aspirations of young people in challenging circumstances, by equipping them with experience of teamwork, leadership and other key skills for their personal and professional development, making them  valued and well-rounded members of the community…”

The group’s research identified that there is a large number of employed 16-24 year olds and that a high proportion of 0-18 year olds in Nottingham City are from workless or low income households. As part of their research they also conducted interviews with Aim Higher Associates, the Young Enterprise Manager and they created a questionnaire.

Following this research, the group identified three methods in which they could improve the prospects of young people:

• Professional Skills Sessions
• The creation of a recruitment firm
• Encouraging young entrepreneurship

One Up also identified potential partners that they could collaborate with in delivering these solutions, and delivered an analysis of their funding, costs and risk assessment.

Students Who Care’s group vision was “to create a society in which parents have exactly the same opportunities in education as anyone else, enabling and empowering them and their children to strive for a better life.”

The group’s research identified that over half of all student parents had thought about leaving their course and that one third of students in England and Wales have dependants, making student parents the fastest growing UK student group. They also recognized the difficulties student parents have with finding childcare and funding, and how this has had a negative impact upon their studies. Students Who Care also used their own questionnaire as part of their research.

From these findings, Students Who Care identified three ways in which they would help to alleviate the problems of student parents:

• Offering subsidised babysitting services
• Creating an outreach programme to try and get parents into university
• Establishing networking, support and advice events

The group also identified potential competitors and risks to their vision, as well as analysing how they would make their income.

Congratulations to the students involved in this module!

Does designing your own Social Enterprise sound like something you’d be interested in doing? The module will be running again next Autumn, so keep your eyes peeled for applications opening….

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