Projects
We have worked with a range of different organisations to help them move forward with their ideas, and growth of their organisations. Below are some of the projects we have been involved in:
What we did
We made the process of social accounting simple for Lindale by walking through the impacts their service has on people in recovery and then finding reliable statistics for quantifying these impacts financially. This project included: impact mapping, data scoping, desk research, analysis, reporting, and marketing communications.
We provided a simple method for showing the financial value of the social impacts created by Lindale Recovery Service. The main outcomes of this work were a formal social impact report and colour social impact brochure. The formal report provided an independent evaluation of the social outcomes created by Lindale with a full methodology, sources and costing assumptions behind the figures shown in the visual social impact brochure. This collaborative approach harnessed the skills of the recovery service, taking away the hard data crunching, but joining up on capturing the joy of recovery and creating a new visual language.
We know that social businesses and charities do some incredible work, and that is why the we help you qualify and quantify your outputs and outcomes to demonstrate social value.
“Community Enterprise Engine made the challenging task of producing a social impact report fun and enjoyable. The word easy comes to mind because it felt straight forward and uncomplicated. They recognised the skills we have, the impacts we make, and supported us to showcase what we do.”
“The end product looks really good. It hits all of the targets we wanted showing the passion we have for our work and the life changing impacts we create. We’ve had so many different people to visit, from stakeholders and Local Authorities, and they've all gone away with one of these brochures. They've gone to the MP Jess Phillips and Tom McNeil, from the Office of the Police Crime Commissioner. It summarises the financial bottom line of how our service saves the taxpayer money and creates empathy for people through humanising the recovery journey.”
Nina Baillie
“It's giving us a bit more understanding about what we need to think about. I think when you start off you're constantly just doing, doing, doing and it's given us that time to step back or understand what we need to think about especially with the business modelling. Every time we get a new opportunity or new client that model is in our head now so we kind of do have a look around all the dimensions. I found the coaching in particular really impactful. It just makes you sit down and really think about what's stopping you and ‘why’ you know?” Harvinder Kaur Harvinder Kaur
“It’s given us focus so we are more focused and goal orientated if you like, so we know we have this and this and this we need to do by then … and we're putting things into place. With the coaching support I think it's reflective, so we are reflecting on our practices as well as how we do things and how we are with people and our fears.”
Zamzam Yusuf
What we did
We have a long history with ZamZam and Harvi from ZamZam Unlimited Possibilities CIC and are bowled over by their zest for youth leadership and community building. ZamZam is an alumni from the She Inspires Business Playbox project which we co-delivered on, and we supported Harvi with a successful grant application during covid when she was leading on Loughborough Against Corona.
We are now committed to providing pro-bono coaching for these two community leaders and supporting with future partnership projects. We have helped ZamZam and Harvi to map, pivot and score their business models. This included deep dives into customer observations to help pump up and tailor the value they provide.
We are now providing coaching so that they are enabled and motivated to make things happen with their projects, with a focus on enhancing their insights, style, power and delivery.
We work with a range of social businesses and charities, and we are always excited to work with new organisations just starting out, to share our knowledge and expertise.
What we did
Working in partnership with the School of Business on executive education, social impact and consultancy projects. This work included collaborating with other Universities as part of the authoring team for Help to Grow, co-creating the session plans, slide decks and workbooks for modules on winning new markets (M3), and implementing growth (M12).
We also lead on producing a slide cast video on business modelling for the module on innovation, and creating the briefs for case study videos on Gymshark and Microfresh.
Our passion is business, we love to share our knowledge and expertise to support learning and grow business.
“Tobias is one of the most engaging and inspiring people that I have had the pleasure to work with. He is an incredible asset to the University of Leicester’s School of Business and over the last few years he has delivered a number of programmes for us in our commitment to support small and medium sized businesses in the UK.
This includes the government funded Small Business Leadership Programme (delivered in 2020/21) in the role of business coach and the Help to Grow Management Programme (currently being delivered) where he is a module lead as well as being a part of the curriculum design team for the programme.
Tobias always receives fantastic feedback for the guidance and support he provides. Whether it be consultancy, teaching, workshop design or facilitation his ability to produce and deliver to the highest level is incomparable. I am proud to know Tobias and look forward to continuing to work with him on both current and future programmes.”
Steve King, Accreditation and Business Manager
“Community Enterprise Engine worked professionally and collaboratively with Zinthiya Ganeshpan Trust as the lead agency of the partnership, bringing together female focused partners experts in their field of enterprise and sustainability to deliver a successful project.
Community Enterprise Engine’s grant writing and project development skills put women beneficiaries at the heart of the project design, which resulted in a successful project that inspired, motivated and assisted female enterprise.”,
Zinthiya Ganeshpanchan, CEO Zinthiya
Ganeshpanchan Trust
One of the things we love doing is finding great opportunities, and then bringing the perfect partners together to win the bid. This is what we did when we saw the tender for the Government’s ‘levelling up’ fund, the Community Renewal Fund.
She inspired Business Play box
What we did
Community Enterprise Engine brought together partners to build an innovative and exciting partnership project supporting racial minority and vulnerable women in Leicester into employment and self-employment.
The She Inspired Business Playbox project was designed to help women into employment and to explore entrepreneurship, generating business ideas that could be turned into a viable business...
Community Enterprise Engine scouted for the most suitable partners to ensure the project was female focused and had partners with the expertise and experience in business enterprise.
We worked with Zinthiya Ganeshpan Trust, Solvers Studio, and Future We Want. Community Enterprise Engine wrote a successful bid for £350,000 from the Community Renewal Fund, developed the trading resource guide for beneficiaries and were one of the delivery partners of the enterprise programme.
The project ran from January 2022, to the end of August 2022, and supported 125 women to develop employment/self-employment skills, enabling them to access employment opportunities and helped 5 women get their businesses up and running.
What we did
We helped Rocket Meals understand and explore the features of a fundable organisation and explore their choices around being a social business, social enterprise or charity. They already had their business model sorted including partnerships, digital operations, online menu and route to market.
They needed help to understand the rules of the game for public sector contracts and fundraising. We shared top tips on local authority partnerships and introduced them to key people from Leicester City Council.
We like to see the growth of innovative social enterprise projects led by community need, and we love helping organisations finding the right structure and finance to deliver their project.
“We shared the Charity Commission’s model objects and showed them which objects matched what they do, and in what ways they were charitable and for public benefit. We wrote their constitution to become an unincorporated community group and recommended they open up a community bank account.
We wrote them a blue plate meals grants application to formally launch the project, fund taste testing research, recruit and train volunteers, build the management committee, and develop robust policies for governance and safeguarding.”
“Tobias and June have been instrumental in the transformation and growth of my amazing social enterprise in ways l couldn't have imagined. From goal alignment, to structure to funding they literally are the MACHINE when it comes to community centred organisations.”
Nitesh Bhundia
“June has been instrumental in supporting the Club to quantify and qualify its priorities, impact and case for investment for a much needed Clubhouse. Her work has helped the Club plan and work towards a vision for the future to enable the sustainability and growth of the Club.”
Iris Lightfoote, Chair of Leicester Caribbean Cricket & Social Club
What we did
We developed and wrote a new 3 year business plan, outlining the charities priorities, targets, intended impact and fundraising strategy for a new Clubhouse. The business planning process involved conducting a SWOT/PESTLE / and service need analysis, as well as researching a social return on investment value for recreational sports.
A theory of change was also developed to visualise the Club’s impact. The business plan has been used as a strong business case to seek funding for a new Clubhouse and extend the Club’s current lease.
We value the work and impact small charities make, and we work to build the capacity, and sustainability in these charities.
