Business Live: for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs

Remember those stories you wrote as a child? Imagine the feeling if something you wrote was read or performed by an Oscar-winning film star. Or a famous author or familiar face from television. Grimm and Co is a writing charity for children and young people. It champions the writer in everyone. It's richly imaginative and a joyful hub for creative adventures. An 'apothecary to the magica...

In today’s show: a social enterprise which has totally overhauled its service, to improve people's mental wellbeing by allowing them access to online events and resources. Plus an interview with Sheffield prosthetics manufacturer, Blatchford, which has converted its facilities to make face masks to help protect frontline NHS staff. Serial social entrepreneur Steve Rimmer has been a regular gu...

It's a triple-filled radio show sandwich today featuring three different businesses – all doing great things. Holly Jenkins of Jiraffe is first up. Jiraffe provides postural care equipment and support to  children and adults with special needs. "The need of the children that we support is not going to go away because of the coronavirus," she says – so Jiraffe has launched two specia...

Not one but two guests in this latest Business Live radio show. Tom French supports people to use data and evaluation better. He covers some examples of his work and how it helps to inform decisions, and has advice on what to think about when you're collecting or analysing data. Tom is also part of Sheffield Data for Good and tells me about a recent collective effort with powerful results. Al...

A comprehensive run-through of support available to businesses, social enterprises and the self-employed. Plus a great interview with Helen Williams and a super book review. “There is a huge spirit, particularly in Sheffield at this time. That will remain, particularly if we stick together,” says Helen Williams, a coach who helps business leaders with their mindset. In today’s challenging and terr...

Music teachers can use online platforms such as Zoom, FaceTime, Google Hangouts and Skype to deliver lessons, and this episode includes practical advice about how to do it. It's a must-listen for self-employed teachers and it also covers livestreaming performances and building online businesses. Today's guest is David Taylor, a former jobbing cellist who works with globally-known orchest...

Today's guest is Professor Ian Rotherham of Sheffield Hallam University, an expert on a range of environmental issues, including urban wildlife, extreme weather, flooding and climate change. Recent floods had an enormous human and economic impact. I met Ian at a recent "Flood Risk Management" conference, which examined integrated and natural flood management approaches and caught up...

How can we break the vicious cycle of period poverty and the shaming and stigma which so many people experience around menstruation? What’s the best way to advocate for social change and make a real impact? How do you measure what matters? And what makes an effective leader? In this episode of Business Live we’re joined by Emily Wilson, Co-founder and CEO of Irise International, and Calum Smith, t...

When Louis Speight was 15 he announced he wanted to become a wheelchair racer. Born with cerebral palsy and often told “you can’t do things” in his childhood, Louis had experienced bullying and an eating disorder. "My own parents were sceptical, and rightly so," he says. "To look at me you'd have never said I would make an athlete." But Louis describes how his bloody-minde...

What springs to mind when you think of the media and journalists? The profession is dedicated to gathering, assessing, verifying, editing and presenting facts, data, news, information – and stories. It is, I believe, crucial to a democratic society. Journalists give voices to people and communities excluded from dialogue; hold power to account; expose miscarriages of justice; present information i...

In  one of the worst-offending industries for landfill and modern slavery, Kalopsia proves you can make products more ethically and minimise environmental impact. A batch manufacturer of textiles, apparel and accessories, Kalopsia is a social enterprise which started as an artistic collective and morphed into a textile producing community interest company. It makes exciting products (including for...

Mike Garner escaped a career as a translator when he got sick of translating clients' bad French. He and his business, Branding with Words, help people put together messages which resonate with their ideal customers. In this interview Mike  explains: • why you shouldn't be trying to sell to everybody • how to build customer avatars and profiles (and why this means you can serve clients b...

Smoke inhalation from cooking causes millions of deaths. Stirring cooking pots for hours and hours, and collecting firewood to cook with steals lives - preventing many people from going to school or achieving their potential. But a simple invention, created in South Africa, is already changing this. The Wonderbag is an insulated drawstring container weighing about the same as a bag of sugar. Bring...

Another welcome return visit to the radio studio this morning. Claire Moore is the founder of Believe and Achieve. Since her last appearance Claire's been featured in the Small Business 100, invited to the House of Lords, and accepted onto the Cambridge Social Innovation Incubator through which she is accessing 12 months of business support, mentoring and training. Claire describes: - her own...

A generous dollop of inspiration and practical tips in today's Business Live radio show. Kisha Bradley was last on the programme in February 2018. So much has changed since then for her and for Bright Box Makerspace. Bright Box creates "sneaky learning opportunities" for everyone. Working in museums, libraries, schools, and with organisations such as Guides, Cubs, Scouts and many ot...

Two leaders of values-driven businesses joined me in the radio studio on Friday 13th December: Gareth Roberts of Regather, a cooperative launched in 2010 whose work building a more sustainable food system for Sheffield is creating numerous positive environmental, social and economic impacts. Regather has also started a hedge fund – with a difference.  And Rob Cole's firm Sheffield Sustainable...

Carl Konadu is the Co-founder and CEO of 2-3 Degrees, a personal development training company (and social enterprise) whose aim is to equip young people with practical skills for life beyond the classroom. In Carl's second year of University, he and 2-3 Degrees co-founder Azzees Minott "began to realise that we did not have the soft skills needed to forge successful lives." But smal...

Joseph Palmer and Dan Bale create cinematic and stylish promotional marketing videos and short films and joined me in the radio studio this week to discuss their business, Open House Pictures. Dan and Joe originally met on a performance course at Sheffield Hallam University and launched the business once they graduated when they realised there was a niche for creative video content production. The...

Mike Jones runs software consultancy Sheaf Digital. His new Sheffield Apprenticeships app looks set to help young people identify good quality apprenticeships. And twenty years ago, Mike made a big career switch, from schoolteacher to software developer.  Mike tells me what Sheaf Digital does, why he launched the Sheffield Apprenticeships app as a "passion project" and how it works for u...

Elvis and Kresse is a remarkable business. Which is wonderful and sad at the same time. This social enterprise, a certified B-Corp, rescues materials which would otherwise go to landfill, transforms them into beautiful new goods and donates 50% of profits to charity. Since 2005 it has turned decommissioned and damaged firehouses into a range of luxury accessories: bags, belts, wallets, travel case...

"The whole point of emotions is to keep us alive" says Andrea Chatten. And if you try to ignore, for example, feeling worried, your brain has ways to escalate how you feel. Emotions you ignore or don't understand can manifest as series problems such as anxiety. Andrea is the MD and lead children's emotional and behavioural psychologist at Unravel, and the author of "The Bl...

James Marriott drinks beer, watches football and discusses both on his popular podcasts. He loves listening to other people's podcasts too. And all this is (part of) how he makes a living. With two decades' experience in media, including 15 in commercial radio and 4 in newspaper journalism, James now specialises in podcasting and mentors new and existing podcasters along their path to su...

Mazen Musaeed and Fran Ruiz Partida of ReadyMart Ltd joined me in the radio studio to discuss their startup, ReadyMart Ltd. Their business aims to simplify the lives of independent supermarket owners, helping them bring their products online and provide pickup and delivery services to their customers. With the big four supermarket chains "dominating" the grocery sector, Mazen and Fran sa...

Today's radio show: four art and design students from Sheffield Hallam University realised they would be "stronger together" - and created Studio Rife. a collective which won the 2019 Hallam Enterprise Award. Plus fascinating and powerful new data from Social Enterprise UK, alongside their Buy Social campaign (you can make the world a better place by drinking beer and eating chocola...

"Write a book" they say. "It'll boost your business!" You can't move these days for experts promising you of the untold business bounties which may flow your way if you write a business book. And, sadly, this means some folk are dashing out books without due care and attention. Or which are well-written, but make them look like an amateur thanks to some common mistake...