Kate Welch is founder and CEO of Social Enterprise Acumen, a community interest company (CIC) which supports social entrepreneurs to develop their concepts or grow their businesses.
She joined me for an extensive radio interview on this morning's show – and the podcast is below. It's crammed with great advice for leaders of businesses and social enterprises.
Kate covers:
- Acumen's work and the most common challenges Kate and her team help clients to solve
- balancing the delivery of public sector contracts with the need for positive cashflow
- social investment: do impact investors understand social enterprises' needs?
- the vital importance of developing resilience for social entrepreneurs, including advice on separating problems from solutions
- public recognition and awards (Kate's been awarded the MBE for services to social enterprise and the Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion) – do they help?
- the difference between budgeting with wishful thinking and realistic financial planning covering best and worst case scenarios
- tips on how to decide whether to bid for contracts, and if you do, how to put together an excellent bid
- her voluntary work with Girl Guiding and some of the skills and aptitudes this organisation develops in girls and young women (did you know girl guides are incredible sales people?)
- her long-held love for Sheffield having spent time studying physics at University in the city
Timings:
