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CASE STUDIES
SECTOR SWAPPING – FROM MUSIC TO EARLY YEARS
Despite spending over twenty years in the music industry combining his accountancy and business skills with a love of music and travel, Neil Fenton's career with Chrysalis Group PLC was punctuated with urges to put something back into society. As Chief Operating Officer of the Music Division, he carried on exploring his interest in the charity sector with a visit to Nigeria in 2005, as part of a team working with a trust to provide education for young people who otherwise would not have the opportunity for any type of schooling...more
GREENWICH LEISURE TAKES ON TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE
Eighteen months ago social enterprise, Greenwich Leisure Limited, faced a significant technology challenge - to create a single working database to hold all business information for the fifty sports and leisure facilities it runs for twelve London boroughs. With a £77 million turnover and headquarters at the old Woolwich Arsenal (a rambling building not especially conducive to streamlining systems), the main information of its (250,000?) members was held on seven databases which were outsourced to three different companies...more
MENTORING IN THE SHADOW OF THE HIMALAYAS
There was no clue for Phil Buckle during his career in the steel industry and as former managing director of Qualcast and Armitage Shanks, that one day he would be working in a remote region of Nepal. Yet for six months, Phil found himself acting as an advisor to the entrepreneurial leader of an INGO that helps tens of thousands of severely disadvantaged youngsters each year...more
BARNADOS DEVELOP SOCIAL ENTERPRISE MODEL
When Barnardos UK Director of Operations, Chris Hanvey, decided to expand the charity's income base and bring what all charities desperately need 'no strings attached funding', his corporate volunteer co-ordinator recommended contacting PrimeTimers for the skills he needed ...more
FORMER MEDICAL INDUSTRY MD MENTORS FAMILY SUPPORT CENTRE
Arriving at The Accord Centre in March 2006, Barbara Majumdar was looking forward to working directly with families recommended by the courts and local authorities to need supervised child contact. However, the Centre had been without a director for five years and was in desperate need of re-organisation and a systems overhaul and Barbara found herself facing an unexpected new challenge. A timely intervention came in July 2006, when Barbara was offered an opportunity by the Big Lottery Fund to work with an experienced mentor. She jumped at the chance and PrimeTimers member Dr Alan Cousens came on board...more
A TRUSTED ADVISOR
Superficially, what would a retired, golf playing CEO from Deutsche Bank and a working mother with a disadvantaged background in East London get from each other apart from an interesting chat about their diverse lives? The answer is a great deal. From the first meeting of their mentoring programme, Farzana Malik felt confident that Tony Buckland would be able to give her the support and guidance that she needed in her role as Awareness Co-ordinator for the Ekta Project, an organisation tackling elder abuse amongst Asian communities in Newham...more
TIME FOR A CHANGE
Convinced it was time for a change, Colin Bayley left the familiar world of the City in 2003 to set up Growth Matters, a specialist business development, communications and marketing consultancy. Determined to take on challenges in sectors that were new to him but at a loss to know where to start, he was put in touch with PrimeTimers. I had always been interested in education and the third sector but had limited experienced in both of them. PrimeTimers provided me with the information, support and contacts I needed to change sectors and develop my business” Colin explained...more
GREEN WORKS FOUNDER GIVES ADVICE ON SOCIAL ENTERPRISE SUCCESS
Recycler of office furniture and major social enterprise success story, Greenworks, has seen its turnover rise from £2,000 in 2000 when it was founded, to £2 million last year. As a new and rapidly expanding social enterprise, they have needed to use a variety of professional and business services to enable them to achieve their ambitious targets, and every one of their consultants has come from PrimeTimers...more
EMMAUS SHARES RESEARCH RESULTS WITH THIRD SECTOR
Emmaus is a charity that enables previously homeless men and women to regain control of their lives by providing both a home and work via a successful social enterprise model. PrimeTimers member Dr Alan Cousens was recently commissioned to carry out a unique piece of comparative research covering the 12 Emmaus Community social enterprises accross England and Paris...more
