Applications are now open for a programme aimed at supporting the growth of small to medium social ventures. The Barclays Social Enterprise Scale Up UK Programme has been launched by Barclays, The Big Issue and Cambridge Judge Business School to address the core challenges businesses, founders and their senior management teams face in scaling.
Delivered in a highly interactive and practical style, in partnership with the Cambridge Judge Business School, the course focuses on enhancing the performance and competitiveness of social enterprises that take part through a bespoke curriculum.
With access to global thought leaders and industry experts, and with an emphasis on peer-to-peer learning, the course provides each founder, CEO and their senior management team with the techniques, strategies and commercial frameworks to scale their businesses and accelerate their ambitions. Led by Professor Stelios Kavadias and Hanadi Jabado, the programme takes a hands-on approach to solving business’s growth challenges.
A series of six workshops over 36 weeks provide access to the latest management thinking, facilitate the sharing of insights about commonly experienced challenges and explore a range of possible solutions. These are augmented by company visits by a member of the Cambridge Judge Business School team and by coaching by an experienced practitioner.
Cohorts will take place in Birmingham, Cardiff/Bristol, Oxford, Edinburgh, Manchester and London.
On successfully enrolling onto the programme, the fee of £7,000 (per company) will be met and sponsored by Barclays.
John Montague, Managing Director of Group Operations at The Big Issue, says: “When it comes to scaling up, a lot of fantastic small to medium social ventures face key challenges when that, without the right level of expert guidance, can seem insurmountable. We are so pleased, working in partnership with Barclays and Cambridge Judge Business School, to be able to support those organisations with the business development expertise that they need in order to make an even greater difference within their communities.”
“We are calling out to ambitious Social Enterprise teams and businesses that are committed to achieving extraordinary results across the UK to apply to the programme and make scaling up manageable and realistic.”
In terms of criteria, businesses that apply should be committed to growing its social impact, have scale-up potential (e.g. annual sales ranging from start-up to £20m). Businesses that put themselves forward need a positive cashflow and must have received or are looking for social investment. Lastly, the business must have a team with a proven track record and/or an entrepreneurial, ambitious, talented and broad-minded management team who are committed to growth.