Community Enterprise Engine joins Reaching People's network
21st October 2024
The Community Enterprise Engine is a social enterprise that specialises in partnership projects involving enterprise and community building, led by June Gomes and Tobias Gould.
"We have a long history in the Leicester VCSE helping community groups to start up, develop and grow. Recently we have been winning in large scale local Government funding in partnership with others. This includes a Community Renewal Fund with the Zinthiya Trust helping women from racial minority backgrounds into work and enterprise; and a levelling up Growth Accelerator for Social Entrepreneurs project helping Leicester-based social enterprises to think big and grow using MBA level strategic business planning tools.
We have a strong business focus. We are co-authors of the Government's Help to Grow programme through association with the University of Leicester, and have also co-written a quarter of the digital Help to Grow Management Essentials course which is accessible for social enterprise and charity leaders. We have developed business plans for the VCSE to leverage large scale funding such as the Community Ownership Fund for Mosaic, and Youth Investment Funds for E2.
We work closely with universities, helping with projects including social impact for research, business innovation, consultancy, spin out businesses commercialising intellectual property from research and executive education.
We are very interested in community building and run Camerados ‘Public Living Room’ events, and partner with local associations in our own neighbourhood #BeMoreHuman. The skills of community building, which are so essential to happy and healthy human life, are less valued in a world where our digital devices create a sparkling bubble of tailored media around us.
The real world seems pale in comparison, and yet real human relationships are more impactful than digital ones. We have a big aim to train 1,000 community champions, with real world community building skills, to work as consultants with business, helping them develop their staff, customer and stakeholder communities. This is particularly valuable in the context of the planned government legislation improving corporate governance, to report on environmental, social and governance outcomes."
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