Alex Cousins makes dice trays from reclaimed materials. Every one is different, they can be engraved or embossed and feature bespoke materials and finishing.

I popped down to Ed’s Workshop, a wonderful workplace and community of makers in Sheffield to meet Alex and learn more about his new business, Wolven Crafts.

He tells me how, when playing Dungeons and Dragons, dice often fall off the table – so a dice tray is invaluable. He's used a £500 grant to help bring his business vision to life.

Alex successfully applied for funding from the SWEF Enterprise Fund at South Yorkshire Community Foundation (SYCF). This enabled him to use the fantastic facilities at Ed's Workshop, which includes embedded support and is a family business.

Alex is joined in this interview by his mentor Gayle Brogan from Opportunity Sheffield. Gayle has been working with Alex, who is autistic, since November 2023 in her role as a senior project support officer.

Kim of Ed's Workshop joins us too. I was blown away by the wonderful atmosphere and facilities there.

Alex also covers his prototyping and how a local gaming shop, Patriot Games Sheffield, has been so supportive and helpful to him in testing his dice trays.

What next?

• Listen to the episode and let me know what you think
• Visit the South Yorkshire Community Foundation website, https://www.sycf.org.uk/
• Learn more about Opportunity Sheffield, the employment and skills service in Sheffield City Council, https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/campaigns/opportunity-sheffield
• Visit the Ed's Workshop website, https://edsworkshop.co.uk/
• Contact me to nominate yourself or someone else as a potential guest for this show, telling me why there's a good fit (our audience: curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs running businesses which make a positive impact for people, places or planet. Our priorities: inspiration and practical, actionable tips).

This is episode 398 of the Business Live radio show, for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Thanks for listening to the programme and to Sheffield Live! for broadcasting us on DAB and FM radio.

Many households want to install renewable energy technology – but the market doesn''t serve them well, says serial innovator Barry James.

But his "Green Streets Club" has already enabled homes on his own residential street in Sheffield to halve the cost of adoption of solar and battery.

Barry explains how they've done it – and other households can too.

He also covers his plans for a UK-wide network of Green Streets Hubs, social enterprises (community interest companies) that he says would support the transition to green energy, and revitalise high streets, support small businesses and empower tradespeople.

Barry explains his financial model for Green Streets Club and covers his panel of advisors which includes the economist and author, Ann Pettifor, and Professor Andrew Crossland of the Durham Energy Institute.

Plus a call for a small business to pilot a new iteration of Green Streets Club to support its employees.

What next?

• Listen to the episode and let me know what you think
• Visit Barry's Green Streets Club website, https://greenstreets.club
• Contact me to nominate yourself or someone else as a potential guest for this show, telling me why there's a good fit (our audience: curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs running businesses which make a positive impact for people, places or planet. Our priorities: inspiration and practical, actionable tips).

This is episode 397 of the Business Live radio show, for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Thanks for listening to the programme and to Sheffield Live! for broadcasting us on DAB and FM radio.

Rebecca Collins is the Brand Coach at The Conscious Communication School, which she launched after becoming burnt out from 10 years in the mainstream media.

Now she helps business owners and social entrepreneurs craft powerful brand strategies and learn how to tell powerful stories which resonate with their target audience.

In today's episode Rebecca walks through exercises to help you find your big bang moment, covering her Breakthrough Brand Story Method and "five Cs" of mapping out your story.

She explains how this can build deep connections and strengthen relationships with your ideal audience, supporting your business development and growth.

It also means "no more panic posting" and gets rid of fake authenticity on social media.

We cover how building your story doesn't mean a "me, me, me" approach, folks' biggest problems when trying to embed storytelling in business, and as a special bonus, some insights about pitching your story to broadcast television.

This episode is crammed with practical tips you can use today. Links:

• Take Rebecca's free, 60 second brand audit quiz or download resources from her website, https://consciouscommunicationschool.com
• Rebecca's FREE event on 4 October 2024 in partnership with Union St: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/authentic-selling-through-storytelling-tickets-1012966338587
• The book Rebecca mentioned, Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, by Clarissa Pinkola Estés: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Who_Run_with_the_Wolves

This is episode 396 of the Business Live radio show, for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Thanks for listening to the programme and to Sheffield Live! for broadcasting us on DAB and FM radio.

Lotus Collaborations is a Community Interest Company, set up to address the needs of autistic survivors of sexual violence and sexual abuse.

Its directors are Neurodivergent Survivors and allies with experience in accessing and providing specialist support and mentoring to victim-survivors of sexual violence.

"There's big gap in understanding among service providers and the general public," says director, Dr Susy Ridout, “and our needs very often don't get addressed. The autistic voice isn't heard at all, and our needs are very different to those of the predominant neurotype, the predominant public. We need to have services who do understand that."

Susy covers:

• The impacts on people if their communication preferences, sensory and other needs are not properly understood
• How Lotus' team and beneficiaries are developing its services and resources to meet the requirements of individuals and services
• How health practitioners are responding to or addressing survivors: poor and good practices
• Practices which make people feel validated
• The value of support from Sheffield Social Enterprise Network, Social Enterprise Exchange and the SEGA / SSEN peer mentoring and action learning programme
• Securing contracts or funding
• Engaging with your beneficiaries

Lotus Collaborations is currently recruiting volunteers: https://reachvolunteering.org.uk/org/lotus-collaborations-uk-cic

Also on this episode: new funding opportunities: The PPL Momentum Music Fund (grants of £5 to £15,000); Feasibility studies for Artificial Intelligence solutions (grants between £25,000 and £50,000).

This is episode 395 of the Business Live radio show, for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Thanks for listening to the programme and to Sheffield Live! for broadcasting us on DAB and FM radio. Podcast image features: Lotus Collaborations' logo.

YWCA Yorkshire supports over 250 young women, children and families to build better futures. They may be homeless, escaping abuse, or in financial or other difficulties. It runs programmes to assist them in living happy, fulfilled and independent lives.

A charity, it has operated locally since the 1940s. This Valentine's Day it launched a campaign to "spread the love and word" about volunteering. So I invited Diane Offers, YWCA's HR Manager, on air.. She covers:

• YWCA Yorkshire's range of accommodation, support, empowerment and advocacy services
• The crucial and varied roles its diverse volunteers play and how the charity nurtures them
• How businesses already work with YWCA Yorkshire, and what you can do to help create real long-lasting change the life of someone in financial or relationship difficulties and having no family or friends to fall back on
• YWCA Yorkshire earns some of its operating income by providing services which are commissioned by local authorities, so we discuss social value in procurement, public services and commissioning
• Diane's day-to-day work in HR, her own career history, and her advice for others developing HR careers in purpose-driven organisations

Also in this episode after the interview with Diane: new funding opportunities of between £10,000 and £120,000 for businesses and social enterprises. Timings:

• 0:00 to 23:50 Interview with Diane Offers – get involved with YWCA Yorkshire as a volunteer via www.ywcayorkshire.org.uk/volunteer and/or learn more about becoming a corporate supporter at www.ywcayorkshire.org.uk/corporate-partnerships
• 23:50 Forthcoming events from Business Sheffield: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/business-sheffield-17338011423
• 25:01 Funding opportunities: 1) for UK industry via the Science and Technology Facilities Council / Innovate UK Industry Impact Fund (£10,000 - £100,000 to help companies overcome difficult product, manufacturing or process performance issues; focus includes health, net zero, energy, defence; deadline 14 March 2024; details at https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/industry-impact-fund/ ) and for social enterprises / asset-locked organisations via the Esmée Fairbairn Youth-Led Creativity programme (up to £120,000 over 3 years; to support work led by and for young people who have less access to creative programmes or who are underrepresented in arts and culture; deadline 15 March 2024; details at https://esmeefairbairn.org.uk/latest-news/youth-led-creativity-funding )
• 27:19 Ends.

This is episode #394 of the Business Live radio show, for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Thanks for listening to the programme and to Sheffield Live! for broadcasting us on DAB and FM radio.

Welcome to episode 393 of Business Live, for purpose-driven entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. When Rotherham wanted to transform its adult social care offer for people with learning disabilities and autistic people and offer personalised services that people wanted, local social and micro-enterprises proved crucial. Helen Allen and Harry Clarkson tell me how.

Community Catalysts (www.communitycatalysts.co.uk) is a thriving community interest company, running since 2010 and operating across the UK. Speakup (www.speakup.org.uk) is a Self Advocacy Group run by and for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. Employment is for Everyone ( (www.employmentisforeveryone.org.uk) is a social movement that aims to improve the employment rates for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.

Also on today's show:

• New CAF Venturesome funding for charities and social enterprises operating across the UK, including those with international projects. https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/caf-venturesome
• Funding for starting up up to £8,000) and scaling up (up to £18,000) social enterprises from UnLtd, the foundation for social entrepreneurs: https://www.unltd.org.uk/awards/
• Event: 19 January, Refugee Entrepreneurship Network and Centre for Entrepreneurs Corporate Roundtable: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/refugee-entrepreneurship-network-corporate-roundtable-tickets-759765548207
• Sheffield City Council has commissioned the Sheffield Social Enterprise Network to create the Social Enterprise Growth Accelerator (SEGA), providing specialist business support and advice for social enterprises in Sheffield. More details: www.ssen.org.uk/sega and www.scci.org.uk
• Book recommendation: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Social enterprises ploughed over a billion pounds into their social and environmental objectives last year. They make a vital contribution to the UK's economy, society and natural environment, as Dean Hochlaf describes today.

An estimated 131,000 social enterprises in the UK collectively turn over £78 billion, representing over 3% of GDP. Many operate in the most deprived areas of the UK. They employ around 2.3 million people and made £1.2 billion in profit in the last financial year, reinvesting over a billion pounds of that into their environmental and social missions.

The figures come from Social Enterprise UK's 'Mission Critical – State of Social Enterprise Survey 2023' and Dean also covers access to appropriate, patient, long-term funding; procurement and ensuring social enterprises' social value is well-recognised; and visibility among consumers and in private sector supply chains.

Also in this episode: new funding opportunities for businesses, social enterprises, charities, universities and arts organisations. Timings:

• 0-1:40 Introduction
• 1:40 Interview with Dean Hochlaf, Social Enterprise UK. Read SEUK's full report here: https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/seuk-report/mission-critical-state-of-social-enterprise-survey-2023/
• 12:03 The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) are developing a joint VCSE action plan; they say it will identify and seek to address the barriers facing VCSE organisations in bidding and winning government contracts and grants. If you are from a voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisation and have comments on this please take part in their short survey.
• 14:25 Events in Sheffield including Christmas makers' markets; the Millennium Gallery's Handmade for Christmas shop.
• 15:33 The City of Rivers exhibition at Weston Park museum showcasing Sheffield's relationship with its rivers (there was a super article in the Sheffield Tribune this week too)
• 16:38 Grants and funding opportunities for businesses and social enterprises:
• For small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in South Yorkshire: The UK Shared Prosperity Fund Business Productivity and Digitisation Grant Scheme – Digital Innovation Grants of between between £2,500 and £5,000 and Productivity Grants of between £2,500 and £12,499 . Applications will be approved on a first come, first served basis until no more grants or support are available. Details: https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/business/business-productivity-and-digitisation-grant-scheme
• The Sheffield Creative Communities Fund is offering Sheffield-based arts, cultural and heritage organisations to deliver creative programmes of outreach, engagement and participation . Grants can be between a minimum of £10,000 and maximum £30,000. Deadline for applications Tuesday 9 January 2024, midday. Details: https://www.sitegallery.org/creativecommunities
• Electric vehicle infrastructure grant for staff and fleets. This one is for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and gives you money off the cost of wider building and installation work that’s needed to install multiple chargepoint sockets (eg wiring and posts). The grant covers 75% of the cost of the work, up to a maximum of £15,000. Open for applications now; details https://find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/grants/electric-vehicle-infrastructure-grant-for-staff-and-fleets-1#summary
• The Youth Music NextGen Fund, which offers grants of up to £2,500 for early-stage musicians and wider music adjacent creatives; aimed at those whose lack of finance holds them back from pursuing their goals. It's

When I heard about the UK's first open-access factory, offering "pay-as-you go accessibility" so entrepreneurs and makers can access state-of-the-art light industrial equipment I was intrigued.

Originally established in 2012, its co-founders call it the "missing link for solopreneurs and SMEs seeking to bridge the gap between start-up and producing at scale."

And when I learned it was a social enterprise, with sustainability "designed in" – well, we had to get its co-founders in for a radio interview. They've gone from strength to strength, moving to a brilliant, award-winning facility, the UK’s largest open-access factory which they say is "crafted by makers for makers."

In this episode, Arnaud Nichols and Al Parra, BLOQS co-founders, cover:

• What they mean by a pay-as-you-go, open access factory
• Who uses it (there are currently 700 active members and they're really diverse) and what people create
• How collaboration and access to shared facilities means makers and small businesses can use equipment at a much lower cost, and with a lower individual and collective environmental footprint
• How BLOQS has both contributed to regeneration n the London Borough of Enfield, and benefited from regeneration match funding investment
• Why being a social enterprise enables purpose and mission alignment, with everyone sharing common goals
• Their own backgrounds and transferable skills
• Plans for the future with big ambition to build more BLOQS

It was a pleasure hearing from Al and Arnaud and I hope you'll find the interview as fascinating as I did. Do check out the BLOQS website here: https://bloqslondon.com

This is episode #391 of the Business Live radio show, for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs. Thanks for listening to the programme and to Sheffield Live! for broadcasting us on DAB and FM radio.