Mobilising Exeter's Community Enterprising Spirit

ESSENCE of Exeter is an active peer-support network for social enterprises and co-operatives, and those who approach their business with a social and/or environmental mindset. This includes social enterprise support organisations or partners that want to promote social and/or environmental aims.Our primary aim is to develop members' businesses and the sector across the Exeter region.ESSENCE Connects, Supports and Represents the sector by providing the following for its members:* signposting to business support and networking events* creating opportunities to share best practice and learn from each other* promoting member businesses and supporting their marketing activity* helping to find partners and collaborators for projects and bids* building awareness of the social sector in the region* promoting the interests of our members with local authorities* supporting each other in generating more sales, revenue and incomeIt is our vision to have a flourishing social enterprise sector in the Exeter area, in which the general public and local businesses have more awareness & knowledge about local social enterprise and buy more products & services from local social enterprisesWe are a membership organisation and are open to applications from individuals and businesses based in Exeter and the surrounding area. For enquiries, please email info@devoncommunities.org.uk or call 01392 248919.ESSENCE is part of the Enhance Social Enterprise Network Devon and Somerset which supports social enterprise network development across Devon, Plymouth, Torbay and Somerset. Together, we are creating a strong sector and helping develop a healthy ecosystem for social enterprise growth and development. To apply to join, please go here - https://enhancesocialenterprise.org.uk/join-the-enhance-network/

ESSENCE - The Exeter & surrounds subgroup of DSEN

Heart-warming examples of local entrepreneurship in Exeter that benefit the community and environment.

This month&#x27;s edition is about FASHION. We will be featuring various socially enterprising Exeter area initiatives that are re-imagining the fashion industry and clothes making and use from the grassroots up. Join us if you are interested in tackling the ecological and social issues of the dominant fashion industry: high amount of textile wastes, high carbon emissions (due to both manufacturing processes and travel mileage), poor makers’ conditions and wages, etc. whilst creating jobs and tighter communities!7-8pm: introducing the topic, pitches initiatives that are/will be re-imagining care within our communities, Q&amp;A (this part will be recorded).8-8.30pm: time to network with other participants With:Padouk Fielding, Mend Assembly, on a blueprint for a vibrant, sustainable clothing hub that reconnects people with their wardrobes, using local expertise while providing learning opportunities and growing the local economy.Alex Printer, from Dressbox, about pivoting his business model from an online clothes rental company to a “rental eBay&quot;.And Mollie Spurr from Reluv and Kalkidan Legesse from Sanchos.Associate professor Clare Saunders from Exeter University will set the scene.Background of this Event Series:Strong communities. We have seen their power so clearly these past 6 months. Neighbours getting involved in each other’s lives by helping with shopping, delivery of meds, welfare calls, etc. As we hope that the community spirit of lockdown is sustained, the type of volunteering we have seen during the ‘response’ phase of the crisis might not be sufficient for a prolonged phase of outbreaks nor appropriate to the ‘recovery’ phase. In the words of MP Danny Kruger: ‘There is a difference between collecting a bag of shopping for someone, and meeting the needs of a family facing a combination of bereavement, unemployment and mental ill health’. (From: Levelling Up Communities Report, https://www.dannykruger.org.uk/sites/www.dannykruger.org.uk/files/2020-09/Kruger%202.0%20Levelling%20Up%20Our%20Communities.pdf)This is where resilient local community and social enterprises come into play: enterprises that are tackling mental ill health, food poverty, social isolation, climate breakdown whilst creating jobs and tighter communities.In Mobilising Exeter’s Community Enterprising Spirit (MECES) Event Series we will be hearing from Exeter initiatives that are actively forging an upgraded economic model into the world: a model where business is serving the direct community by having people and planet at the heart of their business model.Dip in for all, or just one – it is all good. Each session will offer time to meet other participants and people involved in innovation, regeneration and local entrepreneurship. Get inspired and be part of a growing group of passionate individuals wanting to see Exeter as a thriving place with well-knitted communities including all people whilst restoring our natural environment.ESSENCE, CoLab Exeter and Exeter Community Initiatives, supported by SIMPL, are joining forces in Mobilising Exeter’s Community Enterprising Spirit as they believe in a more joint-up approach to support grassroots activity whilst weaving a new story for Exeter that is inclusive of all residents and environmentally sustainable. We are pleased to have Canopy Community co-host this Event Series with us.

Mobilising Exeter's Community Enterprising Spirit

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