To mark Refugee Week (17-23 June), Hormoz, a refugee himself, writes about two different projects with a focus relevant to this week. Ideas Into Action aims to further empower refugee social entrepreneurs to realise innovative enterprises. Step Change is for emerging leaders in organisations which work to support asylum seekers and refugees.
Step Change Consortium Leadership Programme
With the Step Change Consortium, we completed a coaching and training leadership programme with Experienced Leaders in 2023, from four different organizations, all of which support asylum seekers and refugees in different ways. These include representation of cases with the Home Office, welcoming them to their new surroundings, finding housing and general support to enable settling down.
Due to the success, positive outcomes and feedback from this programme, the Consortium commissioned Result to run a similar one for Emerging Leaders.
Myself and Teresa Wilson, Result’s Senior Associate, ran our second workshop on Friday 14th June for this group and the programme will end in July. Like with the previous leaders, we have been blown away by the enthusiasm, genuine curiosity and openness to new ideas.
The leaders from both groups will come together in September to share learning and devise action plans together for the future. We look forward to keeping in touch with them to witness their growth together.
Ideas into Action
This week saw the culmination of this current funding round of Ideas Into Action, the three-year programme Result completed with our superb partners Tern and SEUK.
On Tuesday 18th June during Refugee Week, 18 social entrepreneurs attended their Graduation ceremony and then participated in a Demo Day, delivering pitches, sharing their stories, their business ideas, their hopes and dreams with over 100 guests from various fields.
The evening was held at the Museum of the Home and was hosted with the support of former Ideas Into Action alumni.
For our refugee entrepreneurs, this was the chance to see some of the things they have dreamt of and imagined come to fruition through their hard work and determination.
It was also a dream for us as partners, doing our utmost to create further self-awareness, belief and confidence in the budding entrepreneurs, enabling them to learn how to establish their businesses and seek funding etc.
I remember being in a similar place when we launched Result 12 years ago.
The programme has had generous support over three years from The National Lottery Fund (TNLCF), and we were delighted that they saw the potential in this project and backed it up for three cohorts. We have been reporting on the progress of the project over the life of the programmes – see the News tab here on our website and search for Ideas into Action.
The programme was over eight months, and it was incredible to see the entrepreneurs grow in so many ways over that time. The response to the pitches over the three years has been so affecting to hear. To be able to witness their development has been so rewarding to witness. Of course, in many ways this is the beginning of the rest of their journeys!
With the current representations of refugees as being a burden on our society, these individuals and the communities in which they work, are here to help dispel the perceptions of many. We hope that by using our networks we can amplify the impact of the positive effect their innovative work displays.
Below is a short film from alumni of the programme in 2023 and a link which shows a profile of the latest entrepreneurs. They would welcome any further help you may want to offer. Early help from others can be the difference between allowing successful enterprises vs ones which struggle. It will be much appreciated!
Find out about our wonderful Ideas Into Action 2024 Graduates here.
We are what we do and we love what we do.