May 28, 2020
Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship has joined forces with the Social Enterprise Academy Wales for a three-day event, facilitating the first social leadership and growth programme of its kind for undergraduate and master’s students.
Across the three days, leading social entrepreneurs including Becky Lythgoe, Director of Greenstream Flooring, Gwyn Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Galeri in Caernarfon and Rhian Edwards, Commercial Director of the Wales Cooperative Centre will share their experiences as leaders, leading social enterprises in their respective industries.
15 students from the across the university will join the virtual programme from lockdown, led by the Social Enterprise Academy over three days. In addition to taking part in the three-day programme, students will also work on a 2,000-word assignment in order complete a ILM Level 5 in Leadership, but the main hope is that students will go on to establish and lead innovative social enterprise start-up ventures.
Opening the virtual programme, Entrepreneurship Engagement Manager, Steve Aicheler, said: “Cardiff Metropolitan University is a values driven university, steered by a belief in entrepreneurship for good. We believe that entrepreneurs play a vital role in our communities and society, doing so much more than ‘making money’. The opportunity to work with a group of ethical and community spirited students to help them develop the skills to create new organisations with a clear social purpose was not something we could pass up.
“I’m delighted we’re able to work with social entrepreneurs and the Social Enterprise Academy to support our students at a time of great economic uncertainty. I’m excited to hear from the leaders taking park and look forward to seeing what comes of the programme.”
Social Enterprise Academy Wales Hub Manager, Jocelle Lovell, said: “For more than fifteen years the Social Enterprise Academy has been supporting leaders at all levels, developing themselves and making their organisations more successful and sustainable. It is an absolute pleasure for the SEA Wales Hub to be working with Cardiff Metropolitan University to deliver this programme, especially in this challenging time. The biggest challenge for us was how do you take the unique SEA methodology designed for face to face learning, and adapt it using technology into a virtual programme, that gives students the same peer to peer learning experience. I am really pleased with the new programme, and can’t wait to see what the students make of it. I also look forward to hearing their take on social leadership for the future.”
The Social Enterprise Academy delivers leadership and enterprise programmes that are practical and transformational, helping people use their personal strengths to build sustainable enterprises and achieve greater social impact. For over fifteen years Social Enterprise Academy learning programmes have helped leaders at all levels reflect put learning into action - developing themselves and making their organisations more successful and sustainable. Uniting partners around the world across Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, the Academy believes it has a responsibility to share and learn in return. In Wales, the programme is delivered by the Wales Co-operative Centre and Creating Enterprise.
