DO SMITH

The tenth DO SMITH event is taking place at our offices on Wednesday 12th June, when we’ll be focusing on suggesting solutions to a particularly interesting problem facing Deki.

Deki helps people in developing countries build their own economies independently and sustainably through mircoloans and training. Rather than depending on handouts, this enables them to set up independent businesses and become financially self-sufficient.

We will also hear from our most recent DO SMITH social entrepreneur Alison Belshaw from The Community Farm on what happened at the last event and an update.

Based on previous events, it will be an enjoyable few hours with like-minded business owners and social enterprises.

If you’d like to attend this DO SMITH Event or have any questions please get in touch – yes@do-smith.co.uk

Alison Belshaw, Project Coordinator at The Community Farm, talks about the DO SMITH event on 17 April 2013.

The ninth DO SMITH event is taking place at our offices on 17 April, when we’ll be focusing on suggesting solutions to a particularly interesting problem facing The Community Farm.

The farm, a Community Benefit Society with 500 members, grows and sells organic vegetables wholesale and through a 400 customer box scheme to fund their community engagement activities.  They aim to create a sustainable model of farming, replicable by others, that feeds its local community.  They are motivated by change to the food system and long-term food security.

We will also hear from our most recent DO SMITH social entrepreneur Jeff Hill from The Childrens Scrapstore on what happened at the last event and an update.

There will be plenty of ‘Feel good food’ courtesy of Friska, who are sponsoring the food for this event.  Based on previous events, it will be an enjoyable few hours with like-minded business owners and social enterprises.

We look forward to welcoming the following entrepreneurs:

Griff Holland from Friska Food.

Tom Barnes from Barnes Graham.

Charlie Stockford from Sustain IT Solutions.

David Hayhurst and Gemma Hayhurst from Marriage.

Corinne Thomas from Business Unusual.

Philippa Cox from Frank Water.

Alex Bane from Taxi Studio Ltd.

Paul Jeffrey from Avon Barrier Co Ltd.

Gildas Jones from Dial a Geek.

Melissa Kidd from Coaching Creatives.

Dieter Lloyd from Pam Lloyd PR.

Jane Randle and Andy McInally from Data Driven Promotions Ltd.

Toby Sawday from Sawdays.

Matt Sims from Family Travel Centre.

Kirsten van den Hout.

Ed Dowding from Sustaination.

Aine Morris from Sustainable Food Trust.

Mags MacKean.

Lizzie Everard.

Sophie Mather from biov8tion.

From the social enterprise world we have:

Alison Belshaw, Geraldine Hill-Male, Andy Dibbon and Laurence Guy from The Community Farm.

Lin Matthews and Anita Jeffery from Gloucestershire Resource Centre.

Jeff Hill and Charlie Mason from Childrens Scrapstore.

Finally the team from DO SMITH who have helped to put it all together:

Alison Larkman, founder of Internal Workings.

Clare Lindstrand from Dept. 707.

Mick Dickinson from BuzzedUp.

Becky Bainbridge from DO SMITH.

and last but not least Antony Clark and Steve King from F-works.

If you’d like to attend this DO SMITH Event or have any questions please get in touch – yes@do-smith.co.uk

The Community Farm at Chew Magna will be the subject of our next DO SMITH on the evening of 17 April.

They’re a great, relatively young social enterprise (they started in Spring 2011) and last year’s poor summer hit them quite hard.  They’re looking forward to hearing what advice we can give and I’m sure it’ll be a very interesting and rewarding evening.

As usual, we’ll be sending out invitations to all DO SMITHers closer to the event.  If you are not currently on our list but would like to join us please get in touch.

Feedback from Jeff Hill, CEO of Childrens Scrapstore, following their DO SMITH event on 15 January 2013.

In our next event which is on 15^th January we’ll be working with the charity Children’s Scrapstore which is the largest scrapstore in the country.  It collects business waste which is reused as a creative resource for children’s play and has an arts & crafts shop open to everyone.  With a turnover of over £1 million it is an impressive outfit with great plans for growth.

During the evening we’ll present you with a short history of the Children’s Scrapstore, outline a commercial issue they are facing, and ask you to help develop a solution.  You’ll be professionally facilitated through the process to ensure the best possible outcome.

Ovation Finance have kindly offered to fund the food (Chris Budd, the MD, attended our last event) and drinks will be supplied courtesy of F-works as usual.

We look forward to welcoming the following entrepreneurs and social enterprises: -

Alastair Sawday and Toby Sawday from Sawdays

Alex Bane from Taxi Studio

Tom Barnes from Barnes Graham

Julie Ellison from Social Enterprise Works

David Hayhurst and Gemma Hayhurst from Marriage

Charles Taylor from Taylor Brothers Bristol Ltd

Corinne Thomas from Business Unusual

Chris Budd from Ovation Finance

Crispin Busk from Kabuto Noodles

David Nettleton from Clear Water Revival

Gildas Jones from Dial a Geek

Kevin Broadley from Beef

Kirsten van den Hout

Mark Panay from Simpleweb

Mike Harvey from Amalgam Models

Richard Arnott from Service Junkie

Sophie Mather from Biov8tion.com

Charlie Stockford from Sustain IT Solutions

From the social enterprise world we have:

Jeff Hill, Charlie Mason, Sarah Callan and Kirsty Wilson from Children’s Scrapstore

Kari Lucas from St Werburghs City Farm

Peter Thompson from Bristol Energy Cooperative

Finally the team from DO SMITH who have helped to put it all together:

Alison Larkman, founder of Internal Workings

James Lott from Working Knowledge

Clare Lindstrand from Dept. 707

Becky Bainbridge from DO SMITH.

and last but not least Antony Clark and Steve King from F-works

If you’d like to attend this DO SMITH Event or have any questions please get in touch – yes@do-smith.co.uk

A big thank you to all the business owners and social entrepreneurs who came along to the DO SMITH event on 27 September and gave their time to help St Werburghs City Farm, a green oasis in the heart of the heart of Bristol and a hub for the community.

The event managed to be both enjoyable and worthwhile, generating some great ideas for the farm.

The next DO SMITH event, which will be held at our offices, will be on 27 September when we’ll be focussing on suggesting solutions to a particularly interesting problem facing St Werburghs City Farm.  This is a green oasis in the heart of Bristol and a hub for the local community.  I can personally vouch for it being a great place to take inquisitive small children at the weekend.

In a change from previous events we’ll be inviting social entrepreneurs who’ve been the subject of past events to join the business owners on the other side of the table to allow them to contribute.

It should be a great evening and we look forward to welcoming the following entrepreneurs and social enterprises: