This is a quick update on the progress of the Sarah Dodds Enterprise Accelerator (SDEA) and what we are up to this Summer. For general information about the fund, application procedure and how to get involved please use the tabs above.
The Sarah Dodds Enterprise Accelerator (SDEA) matches early stage social initiatives with high-quality MBA graduate calibre individuals for internships that focus on capacity-building and investment readiness. The purpose of these matchings are two-fold:
- To prepare the social initiative for scale – moving them towards sustainability, success and greatly increased impact, and
- To inspire and educate MBAs, influencing their career choices and further ‘mainstreaming’ social and environmental change into the MBA process.
This year we have two fantastic interns, Geetika and Katie, and two great projects Bootstrap and MyBnk. Geetika is working with Bootstrap (who provide managed workspace in Dalston) to devise a business plan to, literally, lift the roof off their building and create a new floor of workspace for charities and cultural industries businesses as well as a roof park). Katie is working with MyBnk (who provide financial literacy training for young people) to develop their strategy for expansion, initially across the UK and then further afield.
So it’s developing into an action packed Summer for all of us involved with Sarah’s Fund. It’s a lot of fun and sometimes pretty challenging content. We are running dinners for all those involved and interested every Monday evening throughout the Summer, so please drop me a line at mail(at)benmetz(dot)org if you’d like to come along and join us.
Sarah Dodds was a social innovator who was passionate about capacity building for early-stage, high potential social enterprises and social businesses. Through her work launching Accenture’s well-known ADP (Accenture Development Partnerships), her work at Crisis and boutique consultancy projects and later her role as Director of Ventures for UnLtd, the UK’s foundation for social entrepreneurs, Sarah identified a crucial gap in the current support mechanisms available to social entrepreneurs. She focused on early-stage enterprises that had achieved some level of “proof of concept” but which were in need of business thinking and operational improvements to create a platform for growth.