‘We want to inspire’: Local entrepreneurs’ network announces plans for meetings and mentoring

Hackney Social Founders creator Caroline Diehl

Entrepreneurs in Hackney are getting extra help by sharing experiences and reducing the sense of isolation that can come with running a social enterprise or charity.

Hackney Social Founders plans to hold in-person gatherings and arrange mentoring.

It follows a pilot meeting earlier this summer which brought together social enterprises and businesses to talk about the issues affecting them.

More than 90 per cent of businesses in Hackney are small- or medium-sized, according to Town Hall research.

In 2017, Hackney became a “social enterprise borough” and the council is one of the signatories on a manifesto to support 300-plus businesses.

The manifesto aims to promote societal or environmental benefits as a priority, rather than maximising profits.

In the ten years to 2019, Hackney saw “rapid economic growth”.

There were 2,655 extra businesses in 2019 alone, taking the total to 22,560 companies in the borough.

Number-crunchers are looking at the impact of the pandemic on these figures.

The council runs the Hackney Business Network for firms across the borough.

Not surprisingly, given the Covid restrictions of the last few years, many of the local entrepreneurs involved in Hackney Social Founders said they valued meeting up and hearing how others have coped.

The group’s founder Caroline Diehl said the growing number of socially-driven entrepreneurs in Hackney “bring passion, skills and local knowledge, and are able to identify gaps and solutions to issues in the borough as well as more widely”.

She said: “Our mission is to help our local Hackney founder community as much as possible, in turn giving social impact organisations in Hackney their best chances for success.

“We also want to inspire and support people who are interested in becoming a social founder, showing them that setting up a social impact organisation is an achievable and fulfilling thing to do.”

Support will include in-person and online events, mentoring and resources.

The network has won support from Tony Wong, CEO of Hackney CVS, who said it can help “reduce inequalities by supporting budding founders, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, develop ideas into social impact businesses”.

Further information is available from caroline@socialfounder.org.