Kicking off a decade of social innovation after a year like no other
By: Zoe Stanton
Tags: Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation, Startup, Leadership, Service Design

This year, we’ve all experienced a year like no other. Covid-19 has impacted our health, economy, environment and education; exposing significant injustices at societal, community and individual levels. The ongoing pain and suffering so many have faced; and yet at the same time some have experienced moments of joy, optimism, gratitude and beauty. Alongside the deep challenges, we have seen triumphs in collaboration, innovation and community.

This year also kicked off the most important decade for humanity in terms of our actions towards dealing with the climate emergency. We have until 2030 to halve global emissions to even stand a chance at limiting global temperatures to within 1.5ºC compared to pre-industrial levels (this is the critical amount of warming under which scientists predict the planet will have a better chance of being able to adapt).

And, for me, it has been the year that I led my own radical alternative education programme … homeschooling my kids, Lorion, aged 8 years, and Liv, aged 6 years!

In this moment, as we collectively emerge — hopefully for the last time — from the restrictions of the pandemic in the UK, as we face a critical decade in responding to the climate emergency, and as we continue to fight for racial and social justice, Year Here kicks off the next chapter of its journey.

My path into social entrepreneurship

I come to Year Here having benefited from much of what we offer our talented Fellows. As part of an innovation programme offered by Nesta I was supported to develop a business idea, heard from leading-edge entrepreneurs and got start-up funding. I am in no doubt that I wouldn’t be the social entrepreneur I am today if I hadn’t received this investment early on.

I went on to co-found the UK’s first health and wellbeing service design agency, Uscreates, and led the business through acquisition to join the larger change agency FutureGov.

Now I’m honoured to be able to bring this experience, learning and appreciation for social entrepreneurship to serve the Year Here mission.

Me sharing the value of design at one of Uscreates’ design workshops

Why social entrepreneurship?

Year Here provides the fuel, environment and support for budding social entrepreneurs at a time when we need them more than ever. Social entrepreneurship offers us the competencies and the alternative business models that can help us rapidly and radically address the complex challenges of our time.

Social entrepreneurs demonstrate empathy, teamwork, innovation and modern leadership. They seek to understand issues deeply, gain new insights and provide fresh perspectives. They reframe our challenges into opportunities and they go on to create, test and grow social ventures. These social ventures model a more sustainable, innovative and empowering way of tackling problems.

There are great examples from the Year Here fold like Appt Health which increases take-up of health services among those who need them most; Fat Macy’s, the catering business that provides training to support young people moving from temporary accommodation into long-term homes; and Migrateful, running wonderful experiential cooking classes and at that same time supporting migrant chefs to share their culture, practice their language skills and integrate more successfully.

The culinary creations from Migrateful’s Pescatarian Ecuadorean cookery class with Chef Leonor that I joined with my family on Easter Sunday.

My mission at Year Here

I love the Year Here offer. Having met and worked with lots of Year Here alumni, I know that the Fellowship is a transformative experience.

As the social and environmental challenges we face stack up faster than ever, we need to broaden the opportunity for people to become social entrepreneurs and release their changemaker skills. I want us to build on the work that’s already begun to extend and open up our offer to more and different people.

I also want us to explore how we can amplify the impact we have by supporting our social entrepreneurs even further on into their journey, with the goal of helping more Year Here ventures scale to become household names.

I come with ambitions to amplify our impact to meet the social needs of the 2020s — and practical ideas for how to achieve this. I also come with an open mind intending to listen deeply, to understand and honour our assets and all the great work done to date. I believe in collaborative leadership and I will work with the team to shape plans and ambitions that we will build and deliver together.

So now, after this year like no other, this is my opportunity to lead my second radical alternative learning programme. Not my children’s homeschooling this time, but Year Here.

At a time when social innovation and diverse talent is needed more than ever. I’m looking forward to working on this together.