The Responsible Finance Podcast

Jo founded and runs The Real Junk Food Project Sheffield, a social enterprise which saves six tonnes of great food from being wasted every week. The business collects food from organisations 6 days per week, operates 2 pay as you feel cafes, works with 16 primary schools, runs a veg box scheme, operates a sharehouse market and more. It's tackling some of the most pressing social and environmental...

Sophie Maxwell is the founder of The Really NEET Project, a college which works with vulnerable young people aged 16 to 24. In 2009 she began running projects in secondary schools with excluded pupils. That led to national awards and setting up the first college in 2011. Sophie describes how her experience of homelessness informed Really NEET's programme to give young people the support they need....

Faisel Rahman is CEO and founder of Fair Finance, a social enterprise tackling financial exclusion which has built a reputation for entrepreneurial growth, social and commercial rigour. Faisal talks about how working with Grameen and the World Bank in Bangladesh sowed a seed that led to Fair Finance, and how understanding what makes high cost credit providers successful leads to designing products...

Shaz Shah is co-founder of Harry Specters, a business which makes lovingly handcrafted chocolates. Its products have won 22 Awards for their taste and quality. It's also a business with a mission: to offer paid employment to, and free training for, young people with autism. "You can have a great business and also contribute to society," says Shah who covers: why the business was launched how it gr...

Lancashire Community Finance was recognised earlier this year for its resilience and consistency in delivery of access to finance. It provides personal, home improvement and startup loans and reaches clients "even harder to reach than the average" in the responsible finance sector. Elaine talks about how this small organisation, rooted in its local community, competes with high interest and payday...

Actor and activist Michael Sheen launched the End High Cost Credit Alliance at Responsible Finance 2018. The Alliance seeks to make affordable fair finance mainstream and support providers and customers. This episode features Sheen's speech highlighting the Alliance's pragmatic and collaborative approach. "I'm in this for the long haul," says Sheen, describing the problems caused by high cost cred...

Stephen Henderson's business journey began at 16 when he discovered the cajon (a traditional percussion instrument) at a party. The keen musician and woodworker yearned for one of his own and got his tools out. With some wood left over, he refined his design of "custom cajons" and began to advertise them online while studying for A-Levels. His unique design proved popular with other musicians. Per...

Charlotte Purdie was a new parent with a problem. There was nowhere to go with the right facilities to enable her to feed her baby. So Purdie – then 21 – did something about it. She launched The Milk Lounge, a cafe in Nottingham with fantastic, family friendly features. From clean and spacious changing rooms, activities for toddlers and older children, sensory spaces, peer support, homemade cakes...

Responsible finance providers lend to people, businesses and social enterprises. This episode features Duncan Parker, chief executive of Fredericks Foundation. Duncan covers the Foundation's Women's Loan Fund; their work to reduce unconscious bias on lending panels; his background in international development; and his worry that excessive concern for profit in microfinance, and the demands of some...

Responsible finance providers lend to people, businesses and social enterprises. They provide finance that is fair, support and advice. In the Responsible Finance podcast we meet providers and their customers. One is Purple Shoots, a not-for-profit microfinance organisation set up and run by Karen Davies to tackle unemployment and economic problems. Through "little loans to grow ideas" Purple Shoo...

Responsible finance providers all over the UK lend to people, businesses and social enterprises. They provide finance that is fair, support and advice. In the Responsible Finance podcast we meet some of these providers and their customers. Episode 1 features Matt Smith, chief executive of Key Fund, which invests in and lends to community and social enterprises which have traditionally been exclude...