Birth Pains

But starting from scratch wasn’t been easy. Like all entrepreneurs, I started small, just a phone, a desk and a few stamps in my wallet.

Hardly anyone took me seriously. I also had to take some risks – like giving up my job without a secure income and having to run the organization out of my own money for a while.

I then worked for a year unpaid and networked furiously. I took on our first staff. Gradually we started to get noticed. Persistence paid and people realized we were in for the long-haul.

Having secured Lottery funding I grew the organization over the following five years as a successful local charity, winning the Guardian Charity Award in 2002.

From Charity to Social Business...