social enterprise

 Conference report, as featured in BME Voice:

Attended by around 150 people the SEYH Inaugural Conference and AGM was a packed event. Attendees began the day networking with each other and visiting the dozen or so exhibit stands around the venue.

The day officially kicked off with an introduction from the outgoing SEYH Chair, Dave Thornett, before moving on to introduce the keynote speaker. Trevor Lynn, joint Chief Executive of the Grown Organisation entertained and inspired the audience describing the success of the Grow Organisation: moving from humble beginnings to a million pound turnover in just a short space of time.
Following the keynote speech the SEYH panel assembled ready and prepared to take questions from the audience. Under the chairpersonship of Isobel Mills (Deputy Regional Director at Government Office Yorkshire and the Humber) panellists including Alan Matthews (Yorkshire Forward), Dave Thornett (Chair of SEYH), Bob Cannell (SUMA) and Jude Winter (HCT Group) answered wide ranging questions from the audience: from future funding and finance, to selling the sector to those unaware of it.

After a short break attendees had the opportunity to attend one of several workshops. Cliff Southcombe of Social Enterprise Europe spoke about Social Franchising and Licensing- exploring the potential of new legal and financial agreements based on common social objectives. Matt Stevenson-Dodd of Young Enterprise North West asked the question ‘could there be social enterprise towns across the country just as there are Fairtrade Towns?’. Anton Shelupanov of Young Foundation looked at innovations in finance such as: social impact bonds, crowd funding, micro-credit, plus more. Lastly, Sundeep Grewal of Co-operatives UK along with Adrian Ashton, explored the significance of members’ involvement and a sense of ownership in enterprise through their workshop ‘Democracy and Governance’.

 Attendees not visiting a workshop had the chance to pick the brains of John Popham (Digital 20:20) about social media; Paula Denison (SESC) on commissioning; and Linda Banks (Co-operatives UK) on legal structures. Everyone else took part in the ‘Sector Reflector Networker’- making new contacts and developing their networks.

The afternoon held in store the much anticipated SEYH AGM! After the Annual Review from General Manager, Alex Sobel, and a question and answer session with Alex and Dave Thornett, the results of the election for the Board of Directors took place. This first election of the new Board was incredibly competitive with 16 excellent candidates standing for just 9 places. The results saw the return of some familiar faces to the Board: Paula Denison, Neil King, Colin Harrison, Neil Berry, and Kathryn Sowerby; and also welcomed some new faces (to the SEYH Board at least!): Tosin Okuzu of Activ8 Leeds, Morgan Killick of ESP Projects, Gary Whitaker of Active Regen, Graham Mitchell of Co-operatives Yorkshire and the Humber.

Following the election the outgoing Chair, Dave Thornett was presented with a leaving present for his hard work and dedication over the last few years. And so ended the conference, with attendees looking forward to a similar event next year!

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