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On the 4th of October 2023, Plymouth City Council awarded a contract to deliver social enterprise business advice to a partnership headed by Iridescent Ideas. This venture became known as the Social Enterprise Advice and Support Programme or ‘SEAS’ for short.
With two months left to run, the programme has been incredibly successful and smashed 117% of its targets. Take a look at some of our impact so far:
So what’s been behind this success?
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What a difference ten years can make! Iridescent has been a partner to POP in delivering the POPideas service in Plymouth for a decade. Read more about our thoughts on this amazing project.
Last week was a busy one at Iridescent towers – those twinkly, radiant, spires of optimism.
Monday: Zoom meeting on train (well that was awks, all chat no speaking) ... It has been nearly a year of our SHE Plymouth project. What a journey we've been on. We've learned a lot. But what does it take to support a woman to succeed in business?
Through Iridescent Ideas we have been running the SHE -Plymouth project since May. And what an adventure we’ve had, providing tailored and bespoke business support to the women of Plymouth. We have ploughed straight through our yearly target to support 60 women, with almost 80 members signed up to our programme already.
As a dedicated Business Advisor for the SHE project, I’ve loved seeing the project grow and blossom. Am I a social entrepreneur? Are you a social entrepreneur? I steadfastly refuse to call myself one. I think that it is for others to say. However, I am very happy to say that I started, and I run a social enterprise. Where does this nervousness come from? And, is it right for everyone to proudly proclaim themselves as social entrepreneurs? The answer is not as straightforward as it might seem.
Our experience and research showed that Plymouth’s workplace is problematic for women wanting fairly paid, flexible work. Many women were taking matters into their own hands to find solutions. We could see that there was a need for tailored, flexible, expert support and advice for women in Plymouth starting their own business, social enterprise, charity or community group. Thanks to the generous support of The Rank Foundation and Livewell Southwest, who have jointly funded the project, we have just delivered our first four months of SHE Plymouth, and realised we had NO IDEA just how great the need really was!
It's been a whole month since I started in my post as Business Advisor for the brand new SHE Plymouth Project through Iridescent Ideas. And what a wonderful welcome I've had from Mel, Gareth, and the team.
On the back of Mental Health Awareness Week, it seems an appropriate time to talk about mental health and well-being at work - a subject we’ve been thinking about and discussing a lot over the past few months.
In January 2023, I started my new job as Marketing Lead with Iridescent Ideas as a part of the Time To Shine programme with The Rank Foundation. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far and, as a newcomer to the marketing career path, this role has enabled me to learn and train on the job.
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January 2025
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