On the 3rd July the British Council Egypt launched the Young ChangemakeHERS programme. The project is supported by the British Council Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE) programme, Ashoka Arab World and, of course, Red Ochre. This programme will support 60 young women from 14 governorates in Egypt to develop their creative ad social initiatives. Read more »
We are pleased to be able to announce that friend and client of Red Ochre, Strike a Light, has successfully bid for the 3Ts Oral History Project run by Brighton Hospital. For more information, to take part or to experience the outputs from the work see the project website. Read more »
I saw this interesting article on diversity, or the lack of, in organisations. The exploration of arrogance vs humility was an interesting barometer. Source: CIPD Read more »
While I was in Macedonia working with partners on the Upcylcing 4 Youth programme I was interviewed for North Macedonian TV. Martin and I are in the piece from 17:31 onwards. Read more »
I recently spent a week and a half on Gunning Kidul on Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This wasn’t a holiday. It was an eye opening opportunity for me work with DEC (Disability Empowerment Centre) on a community enterprise programme. I found it interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, DEC is a cooperative (locally called an association) of cooperatives. It also engages directly in work with its members and the wider community. Secondly, 98% of the membership has some form of disability. Furthermore, the membership includes people that completed university through to people that haven’t completed primary school. This was such an Read more »
Robert and Martin recently returned from Kavardarci in North Macedonia where we are working with our partners Eco-Zhivot (Eco-Life) and Proekt-EU on a youth Upcycling project, Upcycling4Youth. Over the next 9 months, we’ll be working with Youtubers, writing materials, taking young Macedonians on a London based environmental enterprise experience and partnering with Petit Miracles on this exciting project. Read more »
We’re working with Avilys in Vilnius, Lithuania and Materahub in Matera, Italy in order to better support cultural entrepreneurs and those working with heritage. Robert and Martin were recently in the stunning city of Matera where we saw some amazing examples of cultural led transformation. We’re working on some new methods and training materials so we can all deliver better training in this area in the future. We will be making these widely available for practitioners, so please come back on a regular basis for access to the materials. This project is supported by Erasmus+. Read more »
In my last blog I discussed the birth and naming of the Cairo Model as a way to begin to answer the question “Is a social enterprise better than a charity?” In this blog I will explore what the Cairo Model is and how it can help you make appropriate decisions for legal structures, for marketing and communication activity and funding. So, tell me about the Cairo Model? The model can be summarised with this diagram (see below). The first part of the model attempts to define your market. The second part helps you understand the situation. The third part Read more »
This is a question posed to me when I was in Cairo earlier in February. I had the good fortune to be working with the British Council Egypt and several Egyptian government departments on the creative social enterprise sector. After wrestling with the existential question, and a brief pause to gather my thoughts, I expanded on a model I have been developing and speaking around for the last couple of years. I’ve called this the Cairo Model in honour of the place where my thinking became a practical diagnostic tool and template for further action. The model can help you Read more »
Nonprofit Library has an interesting infographic on marketing, social media and email marketing myths. It’s definitely worth a look. Source: Nonprofit Library, Author John Hayden Read more »
Ms Song Qinghua, Director of Shining Stone #socialenterprise, #China paid us a visit on October 19th. Ms Song is an old friend of Red Ochre doing some amazing things with very little in the way of resource. Qinghua broke a social enterprise fact finding trip Iceland to catch-up with us and share her challenges and solutions to engaging with social need on a large scale See Shining Stone for more details. Read more »
This is a pretty pithy summary of the Business Model Canvas from sage. It’s short, clear and practical. See the links above for more information or drop me a line with questions or comments if you’d rather speak to a person. Read more »
This is an interesting graphic that summarises three strategies for organic growth in an organisation. For the full article see “Building an engine for growth that funds itself” at McKinsey. Source: McKinsey Read more »
I thought this was a fun way to think about negotiation. “Never say no to a hostage-taker! It’s in the manual. Are you gonna tell me ‘no’ again? Never use ‘no’, ‘don’t’, ‘won’t’ or ‘can’t’. It eliminates options. The only option left is to shoot someone.” Danny Ronan (Samuel L Jackson), The Negotiator Don’t play hardball Make the first offer Appeal to the emotions Do your homework Look for ways to grow the pie Be authentic Know when to walk way Source, and for the full article: London Business School Read more »
Here’s a great quote from Peter Kurzina, MIT Sloan lecturer “The role of any CEO is threefold. Make sure the company doesn’t run out of money, figure out what’s next for the company and its industry, and prepare the company for changes.” Source: MIT Newsroom Read more »
