Make An Impact Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Abbie Morris is co-founder and CEO of Compare Ethics, a platform which connects conscious shoppers with brands which are ethical and sustainable, rather than brands pretending to be. She launched Compare Ethics because of her own lack of trust at many brands' claims and her frustration about greenwashing and purpose-washing. Compare Ethics measures claims about sustainability...

Send us Fan Mail When are your prime opportunities to capture data? In part three of The Impact Diaries, Heidi Fisher describes her approach to measuring your impact – the central stage of the LEAN social impact approach. If you've planned effectively then measuring your impact is easy, she says – but if you haven't this is where everything goes wrong. Heidi describes how a client sought...

Send us Fan Mail It's disappointing if an important cause is let down by a poor product. Bryn Frere-Smith's coffee contributes to addressing terrible issues – but he’s emphatic it must taste amazing too. Bryn is founder of Blue Bear Coffee which uses its profits and profile to support organisations fighting human trafficking and caring for survivors. After leaving the Metropolitan Police...

Send us Fan Mail Stage two of the LEAN social impact approach is planning. If you miss this stage you risk measuring the wrong things in the wrong way, a mistake many social enterprises make. Heidi explains how an organisation which works with young people with Special Educational Needs planned what to measure – and how to do so effectively. Many organisations fall back on the easy option of quest...

Send us Fan Mail Denise Brown launched 4YoungMinds in October 2018. Over several years as a youth worker for The Prince's Trust she had witnessed just how much young people struggle with mental health and well-being, no matter what their background. How does social media influence young people's mental health and what are its pros and cons? What positives have come out of Black Lives Mat...

Send us Fan Mail What would your ultimate goal be if you were trying to maximise your impact? Would it be different to your current goal? In The Impact Diaries Heidi gives real-life examples of the five stage LEAN social impact approach in action. Its first stage is "define" and in this episode Heidi covers work with a health and social care organisation, three key questions board member...

Send us Fan Mail Manny Ebokosia is a multi-genre and multilingual recording artist, songwriter, and the founder of music business social enterprise, True Cadence. You can't push a natural born leader into working for someone else, he says. So True Cadence provides learning, mentoring and artistic development to young people from under-resourced communities. Manny launched True Cadence when he...

Send us Fan Mail It's a disgusting and expensive mess. Fly tipping is the illegal dumping of rubbish and a costly scourge. Local authorities dealt with over a million incidents of fly tipping in England alone last year. But Elliott Lancaster is on a clean-up mission. Utter Rubbish is a social enterprise he created while studying at Keele University (he gained a first-class degree in accountin...

Send us Fan Mail "Our values are to help the world run better and improve people's lives," says Frank Omare, a senior director within the global value advisory team at SAP.  He works with customers to help them understand how technology can solve critical business problems, transform their businesses – and enable their organisations to achieve sustainability-related goals. Sustainab...

Send us Fan Mail "The trouble with being successful is you're in demand." When Jonny Kinross took the helm as CEO of Grassmarket Community Project, the Edinburgh-based social enterprise worked with around 70 people each year. Now that figure is around 500. With a background in social work, Jonny set up a social enterprise 12 years ago before joining – and "totally falling in lo...

Send us Fan Mail Angela Clements is Chief Executive of Fair for You Enterprise Community Interest Company, an ethical alternative to high cost weekly payment and "rent to own" stores. Fair for You is a lending company, wholly owned by a charity, providing small loans for people to buy essential items for they homes. It does not give cash loans, it gives access to affordable credit. On an...

Send us Fan Mail InPower Academy uses mixed martial arts as a vehicle for transformative personal and community improvements. Daryl Chambers is the founder and CEO of this Wolverhampton-based social enterprise which specialises in working with young people 'regardless of circumstance, environment or current standing.' In this episode, Daryl tells Heidi about: how and why martial arts can...

Send us Fan Mail It's a crisis the like of which we've never faced before, exerting a dreadful toll on humanity, health and the economy. And social enterprises are especially vulnerable. What support is available to social enterprises and to the people running and working for them? In this episode Heidi runs through a few measures which have been announced. Some have had lots of media co...

Send us Fan Mail "Partnerships are vital to our existence...We all should be working a lot more in collaboration...and I think we can do a lot more," says Richard Collins, creative director of Sortified. Sortified aims to improve lives and reduce social inequality. It produces toolkits, runs projects, and works around people and place through co-production. In this episode, Richard cover...

Send us Fan Mail Music isn't just a "nice thing to have" - it has become an integral part of many care plans for people living with dementia. Rosie Mead is the founder and MD of Musica Community Interest Company, a social enterprise which supports the dementia journey through music. It runs music workshops and meaningful music activities, mainly in care homes, and has been running f...

Send us Fan Mail A scientist with a corporate background, Dr. Wayne Wright is the Chairman of Maidstone Warriors Basketball Club - and an interviewee with a passion to help people live with meaning and purpose. In this episode Wayne discusses: - avoiding the 'boom and bust' two-year cycles which trap many social enterprises. - how by focusing on one human being means you can support many...

Send us Fan Mail Vicky Smith is the founder of Earth Changers, an award-winning travel website and “purpose-first” business highlighting sustainable, ethical and responsible tourism. The size and worldwide scope of tourism means its power to deliver impact and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals is unrivalled, says Vicky. In this fascinating interview Vicky – who is a travel industr...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode the tables are turned and Heidi is quizzed about her recent visit to the Social Enterprise World Forum in Ethiopia. SEWF was an amazing and impactful experience: like being surrounded by the most vibrant, high energy family, she says. And the experience has changed Heidi, making her re-evaluate her own vision and goals.  The social entrepreneurs Heidi met at SEWF h...

Send us Fan Mail Cecile is the Founder and Managing Partner at Impact First Investments, a firm which retains the energy and talent of entrepreneurship to make the world better. Blending purpose, capital and tech seemed entirely logical, she tells Heidi in this episode, which covers: How Cecile got started in impact investing. Some of her interesting and impactful investees. Why half of the compan...

Send us Fan Mail HugglePets in the Community is a community interest company working with children, young people and adults. It offers animal-assisted therapy, in which a therapist works with animals to help people with their mental health. This pioneering and unique social enterprise is based in Wolverhampton, where nearly 4000 children & over 21,000 adults are affected by stress, anxiety and...

Send us Fan Mail We've all heard stories which have horrified us. But when Dave Linton was told how most children in care transport all their possessions - their lives - in black bin bags, he wasn't only shocked and appalled. He resolved to do something about it. Dave, a former youth worker, launched social enterprise Madlug CIC to give dignity to children in care. Madlug stands for Make...

Send us Fan Mail Sophie Lejeune is founder of Society Zero, a zero-waste shop and community action group based in Glasgow and operating in the Central Belt of Scotland. When she launched Society Zero there were no zero-waste shops in Glasgow, and Sophie was concerned that many environmental groups didn't or couldn't engage with marginalised people. Sophie discusses Society Zero's wo...

Send us Fan Mail Craig Carey is co-founder and director of business at Bubble Chamber CIC which specialises in business consultancy for other social enterprises. Before "taking the leap" to launch Bubble Chamber a few years ago, Craig worked in a bank, studied for an MBA, became interested in international development and worked in Africa, helped charities with strategic planning and the...

Send us Fan Mail Kath Austin is the founder of BeeBee Wraps, creator of reusable natural food wraps made from organic cotton and beeswax. Plastic-free and compostable, BeeBee Wraps are now stocked in hundreds of stores and sell in their thousands online. Kath started making BeeBee Wraps herself when she wanted to find alternatives to single-use plastics including cling-film. Friends wanted to use...

Send us Fan Mail Julie Haywood is director of community investment for WHG, a "profit for purpose" housing association in Walsall. Her role is focused on people: happier people have better lives, she says. In this episode Julie describes WHG's investment into communities and how it creates opportunities for people. Housing associations are anchor organisations, says Julie, and altho...