Croydon micro-enterprise networking event
Almost a year after Sasha Lindsay started as Service Development Manager for the Croydon Council Community Micro-Enterprise Project, she put together a great showcase event at Bernard Weatherhill House in July. This gave social care and health teams the opportunity to meet and chat with the enterprises that have already been through the programme.
Anna Tuck, Programme Catalyst at Community Catalysts, was there to provide support to the event and talk to enterprise leaders about the difference that they are making in the Croydon community.
Micro-enterprise power!
The room was buzzing with creativity and opportunity. A variety of enterprises were keen to chat to each other about their offers.
19 community micro-enterprises were showcased and included:
Hospital to Home Support Services Limited
Placid Care Ltd
Uplift Home Services
Lydia Grace Home Services
Creative Croydon CIC
Trish Mobile Hairdresser
SETLL – Supporting the Elderly to Live Life
Loma Care Limited
A Little Blossom Ltd
Lydia’s Help
Care Leaders Group
There was even a song from the lovely Sing Out and Smile!
Croydon Council commitment
The event was held at the council’s own building to encourage teams working there to attend. 34 professionals signed up and there was a steady stream throughout the day, keen to talk to the entrerpreneurs about their offers and the support that they had received.
Sean Oliver, Head of Service for Older Adults, gave an introduction to the project and emphasised the importance of community micro-enterprises in meeting local needs.
Anna from Community Catalysts described the model of community enterprise development, what our role has been in Croydon and the great progress that has been made locally.
Sasha introduced the entrepreneurs who all had a couple of minutes to talk about themselves and their offer.
In addition to the presentations about the types of support on offer, the Croydon Local Area Co-ordination Team presented an overview of their work and how it dovetails the Community Micro-enterprise project.
Kingston Centre for Independent Living (KCIL) also presented about delivering their service, talking about Direct Payments and how this feeds into the project.
Next steps
Sasha is supporting a further 15 entrepreneurs who are now going through the Community Catalysts development programme to develop their own offer, meet the Doing it Right Standards and market themselves on Small Good Stuff.
KCIL are getting in touch with all the people running a community micro-enterprises who attended the showcase to talk to them about how they can provide support to people with Direct Payments, providing choice for the person and maximising sustainability for themselves.
