13 Feb Sovereign’s Strivers off to Flying Start
Yesterday saw the culmination of a Strive ‘bootcamp’ programme with Sovereign housing association in Newbury. Though every Strive ‘Dragon’s Den’ is inspirational, it’s not every day that we have the unusual guests who graced us with their presence last week…
Colin Sutherland and ‘Bird’ the barn owl!
The panel were treated to a pitch by Striver Colin Sutherland, who applied for a grant to help grow his social enterprise business, Wings of Freedom. Colin demonstrated how his magnificent birds could be used as a form of therapy for those with Alzheimer’s, special needs and other learning difficulties. What better way to show how the birds can help than bringing an owl along for the panel to see?! It was certainly a first for the CUBE team, and it worked a charm, with Colin and all of his fellow Strivers successfully securing start-up grants from Sovereign.
Continuing the animal theme, the group also included a local dog walking start-up and nutritious dog biscuits company. It wasn’t all animals though with a baker, a business information management system and a personalised caring service all being launched on the day.
The group had received support through a five day bootcamp and distance learning support to develop their businesses over. The group all worked very hard to present their businesses last week, and the work paid off impressing the ‘Dragonflies’ which included Ann Santry, Sovereign’s Chief Executive.
This programme launched Sovereign’s extensive package of start-up support for their residents in 2015, encompassing Strive Intensive ‘bootcamp’, Strive Online and Strive Further. It’s great to work with a housing provider committed to giving their residents such a choice in support for their start-up dreams. In addition to Strive support Sovereign’s staff are becoming the mentors to help residents through the whole process.
With Sovereign’s mentoring, continued support from the CUBE team and the fantastic boost of the ‘Dragon’s Den’ day, we hope to see great things from this group, so watch this space in the coming months!