THE _SOCIALSTARTERS PROGRAMME

What’s your mission?

_SocialStarters is a learning and development programme that sees you take a deep dive into the current challenges faced by a start-up changing the world. Your task? To choose a mission, and then produce a solution to a live business challenge based on your skill set and experience in the commercial world.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST FOR 2022 PROGRAMMES

Support the UN’s societal and climate goals (the SDGs) by providing much-needed expertise to the small but growing organisations tackling some of our society’s greatest problems. From plastic waste, the refugee crisis, racial inequality and the current economic challenges faced by those affected by covid-19, our associated impact orgs are addressing these challenges through innovation, creativity and commercial business acumen. 

Over 10 weeks you will get exposed to a mix of live training, group sessions, peer support and online training; enabling you to deliver a mission-driven short-term consulting assignment that sits under an area within Marketing, Operations or Finance for a small business or non-profit.

PROGRAMME CURRICULUM

Inspiration: Online Training

With informative and inspirational training on all things social impact, entrepreneurship, consulting and career change; you’ll learn from thought leaders published in Harvard Business Review, Social Innovation Review and others, plus get access to the _SocialStarters Toolkit ™ full of digital consulting resources that further your understanding of global social entrepreneurship, start up methods and business growth; plus there is a focus on personal development & career coaching to help ascertain which type of social starter you are.

Immersion: Working on a Mission

Our experts match you with a small business making an impact in their community or the world-at-large. We fully vet and onboard the enterprises and make sure your skills match their most pressing business needs. You’ll support them on a specific assignment which you conduct over a timeframe of your choosing, so long as it covers a minimum equivalent of 5 full working days spread across the 10-week timeframe. We prepare you for your mission and provide 24/7 support in the Slack group.

Ideation: Skills Development

Working on a live consulting assignment for a small business you will hone traditional consulting skills (planning, strategic, lateral thinking, and communication) as well as develop your empathy muscle as you learn the nuance of social entrepreneurship and small business. Your assignment will include a deep dive into the world of your client, you will conduct an audit on their specific business challenge and leave them with your expert recommendations. You will learn about the 6 P’s of Purpose, building out your awareness to shape your identity in the social impact space. You will also craft your personal brand and get feedback from your peers.

Plus: Community & Networking

Meet like-minded professionals looking to create a change in their lives, passionate about the future of work and looking at how to combine that with a mission to change the world for the better. Whether you find yourself sparking new ideas, finding a co-founder, or learning from peers with a different skill set to yourself, you will engage in lively discussions with a group of people who are all going on the same journey.

What the programme will cover

1. Sector

This module covers how the social enterprise sector emerged, where it is now and the future of it. We’ll go through the variety of different business models and legal structures, where the money comes from and look at the social enterprise support ecosystem globally. We’ll discuss the mindset and values of a social entrepreneur, the importance of measuring impact and best practice frameworks. From Doughnut Economics to Shared Economy systems we will bring you up to speed with current thinking.

2. Strengths

Most of us have not been trained for the way the world of work is changing. We’ll investigate the 21st Century career and how to better prepare for it. You'll get guidance on CV & job hunting best practice; plus get support on your career development as well as your draft CV and application should you find a role you love. If you want to transition into continued consultancy we’ll assist you to find your first client on our Start Me Up Accelerator, a follow on 6-week course.

3. Skills

Start up skills are becoming increasingly more important for a 21st Century career, and as our social enterprise clients are early-stage businesses, we cover the mindset and methods of lean startup - the ‘Build, Measure, Learn’ loop and the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) - what it is, how to build it and how to use it. You can then take these skills back to your employer in the role of ‘intrapreneur’ and seek out opportunities to apply fresh thinking and make an impact, or you could start to germinate the seeds of your own ideas applying these methods.

4. Strategy

We will prepare you for your mission by dedicating time to training you in our consultancy methodology. We’ll provide you with a framework for structuring your assignment and advice on how to conduct the first fact finding session through our F.I.R.S.T Assignment Framework™. We’ll also discuss best practices of consulting and go through a number of business analysis tools and useful approaches to undertaking your first assignment.

5. Support

The way we work is rapidly changing and it seems that remote working is here to stay, in some shape or form. We’ll be introducing and using various digital tools enabling you to learn the bestpractice of remote working, including habits, time management techniques and digital working and productivity tools. Inside the Toolkit will be a range of consultancy, start-up, and business development tools to help you test your own ideas for change. Our team of career changers, coaches and consultants will be on hand to support you throughout.

FEES & FEE BREAKDOWN

Why pay a fee? That’s a fair question

Each place is subsidised by _SocialStarters meaning we run these programmes at cost. The fee ensures we deliver high-quality experiences with lasting impact. We’re a social enterprise too, so we reinvest more than 51% of our annual profits to deliver our mission.

Programme fees:

The programme fee is £3,489.00. There are a limited number of scholarships available for exceptional applicants who can help us further our mission to increase diversity in the social impact space. Scholarships are considered on a rolling basis, so apply early for the best chances. 

Fee breakdown:

To find out more about the programme, please download our latest brochure.