Where it all began (and why they said it wouldn’t work) …

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

This summer, the passing of our 8th Anniversary had me thinking about how this little business started. Designed in 2011 as a business that would benefit the people who work for it, as well as society at large, there were more than a couple of cries from friends and colleagues of “abort, abort, it will never work!” Luckily, we didn’t, and actually, it did.

On my redundancy in 2011 (aged 55 and female), Nats and I started to build a vision for the first social advertising business. Witnessing the poor treatment of people in the ad industry in the pursuit of profit (from managers being badly underpaid whilst flogging themselves to death, to pregnant women having their roles deliberately downgraded) we sought to build something different. A company with people at its heart.  

Enter Social & Local CIC (SoLo). SoLo would see people for what they really are and what they are capable of rather than as a problem because they are a mum, carer or OAP. By making everything remote and flexible, staff would be based at home and free to organise work around their personal lives. Set up as a Community Interest Company, 50% of profit would be invested into community projects.

Despite being branded by others in the industry as ‘barking’ for believing that this remote and people-centred model could work (‘you really need a shop window, Steph!’), we held tight to our belief that business can, and should, benefit its own people and its wider community.

Roll on 8 years, and the naysayers have been proven wrong, SoLo has generated profit year on year, and invested thousands of pounds in community projects. Every day I feel proud. Neither rich nor famous but quietly satisfied that SoLo has created a working environment that changes the game – small, but respected and admired.

#social&local #socialbusiness #sociallife #flexibleworking #flexappeal

 

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