Thursday 5 December 2013

Best Foot Forward!




So Tuesday night, off we trot with some friends to Anton Chernikov's fantastic event "How to be a social entrepreneur," organised by the very brilliant Michael Norton you know, Buzzbnk, CIVA all that good stuff. Michael has an idea based on the talents in the Bible: he gives us £20. We have to repay  £30 having made a profit in a social enterprise in 6 weeks.

We have to team up with people we don't know in real life. Way outside my comfort zone, then. I "win" Ben Ramsden the genius behind ethical underwearness company Pants to Poverty, the original pantrepreneur who says "we're Facebook friends. That doesn't count."

Our *brilliant* idea is BFF or Best Foot Forward. With Michael's generous start up cash (repayable, Ts and Cs apply but we've signed up, anyway,) we're going to buy £20 of secret ingredients to make an entirely organic and eco friendly shoe cleaner. We want to shine your shoes. You know how *great* you feel when you step out in a new pair of shoes? That's the feeling we want to recreate for you, and in the process we want to rebuild fragmented social bonds and get excluded people involved, too.

 Vulnerable women we work with, homeless women, young kids outside of mainstream education, those who have been excluded from society, will get paid to shine your shoes before that Christmas party, the all important board meeting, a really hot date so you can put your Best Foot Forward. They also get to work on a week long enterprise project with  MyBnk and sell their social enterprise in a box, to start their own enterprise empires.

Here’s what they get from it:

○ Increased confidence
○ A week's enterprise training with MyBnk and an enterprise in a box
○ Experience of being in a workplace
○ An understanding of delivering a service rather than constantly receiving and being beneficiaries  
○ Paid to do this
○ Access to places they may never normally go, because they don't think they are "allowed"
○ Team building skills
○Humility (me too)
○Increased capacity in existing skills and being service oriented  and customer facing
○  building small but credible pathways back into mainstream society by being seen as connectors
○Selling their enterprise to the recipients of the shoe shine (a seed bomb, very sweet, compacted seeds you throw to plant surprise trees and wildflowers in an urban environment).

It's by donation (minimum £5 per shoe shine) and we're looking for a minimum of 10 pairs of shoes to buff up in a location so if you and your colleagues fancy a special treat to put a spring in your step, Facebook us, call us, Tweet at us and watch this space as this becomes a million shoe march towards empowerment and shiny shoes!

@KazuriHomes 
@Pantstopoverty

Featuring exclusive ethical products, this is a step-by-step guide to setting up a social enterprise. Workshops take participants on the journey of making a profit whilst helping people and the planet.

Session 1:
Participants are introduced to the concept of social enterprise and explore the stories behind their ethical products. They split into groups, receive their Enterprise-in-a-Box and create their business plan. Teams prepare to sell over the coming weeks.

Session 2:
Teams present back their experiences. Presentations are scored and teams are judged on their creativity and hard work.


What will they learn?
The practical experience of running their own social enterprise, working as a
team, conducting market research, identifying their target audience advertising, pricing, customer service, cash flow monitoring and planning ahead.


We have AM or PM time slots available on 16 December and 17 December, please contact us for more information
info@kazuri.org.uk

@KazuriHomes
@Pantstopoverty

Here are 2 pairs of shoes. Can you guess. ..





Farah Damji & Ben Ramsden