[MUSIC] Unlimited Ventures is the in house consultancy division of unlimited. The foundation for social entrepreneurs. >> We provide business support to ambitious social entrepreneurs, helping them to scale up their organizations. >> Here's an insight into the last year of their lives. >> Futurefirst is a social business working with state schools and businesses across the UK to revolutionize the way careers advice is delivered. >> We're student hubs, and we're a national charity working to inspire and support student volunteering, and social action in their communities. >> My project is Wikivorce, an online community, providing free advice and support for people going through divorce and separation in the UK. >> Whommadeyourpants, is a worker coop empowering marginalized woman by providing flexible employment education, in a social and community space. >> Bridges trains health care professionals to support self management skills in people that have experienced a stroke. >> Trabasack is a new product. It sits a lap tray on your back. It's used for everybody but it's particularly used for, for wheelchair users of children with special needs or communication problems. >> Food Cycle brings together young volunteers, surplus food and a free kitchen space to create nutritious meals for people affected by food poverty. [MUSIC] >> This time a year ago I had no idea how to manage stuff. It was really just me and a small team running feet first. Our biggest achievement this year is to double the number of schools, and therefore young people that we work with. >> In the last year, we've been working to open up a 6,000 square foot building in Oxford. That's going to be a cafe bar restaurant, meeting rooms, offices, event space, and we'll be signing the lease in a couple of weeks and opening on the 1st of July. >> Thanks to Unlimited and some of the introductions they've made for us, I feel that now we have the support of both local governments, and many leading charities. And that network of support partnerships makes it a lot easier to achieve the social impact that we're aiming for. >> In the last year, we've created six permanent part-time jobs, sold 3000 pounds worth of pants, and two of the women we work with have opened their own bank accounts. >> In the past few have come a long way. We now have our product in reputable stores. And this is strength from the position when looking to win your business. >> I have a greater understanding of how to manage the financial side of my business. And a greater confidence in using some of the methods to work with the finance side. [MUSIC] >> Our biggest challenge in the past year was to create a model of replication across the country for Food Cycle that would be successful year after year. >> How do you deliver social impact and a lot of free advice and support services and yet remain financially viable? >> It was challenging to make sure that the quality of the product was maintained during the large scale runs of the manufacturing. >> Our biggest challenge was deciding on the business model and getting it right for Bridges. I overcame this by getting support from Unlimited and also support from my bosses within the university. [MUSIC] >> My advice would be to ask for help, to say to people come and join us, come and help us. We need your experience and your advice. >> The best piece of advice that I could give you, is that Unlimited will open lots and lots of doors for you and you need to be really selective about the people you want to work with. >> You should really take advantage of the Unlimited Connect program. There's some amazing mentors and companies out there willing to offer their advice, and you should really take that chance. >> Listen to advice from the experts, but don't be afraid to disagree with them. [MUSIC] >> The last year with Unlimited, as an award winner, has been wonderful. Unlimited has been there as a leading, guiding hand for us as we grow in to a bigger organization. I hope that this relationship will continue for years to come. >> This year has been an absolute roller coaster. We've had incredible highs. Just at the end of this year, we've sponsored work with Google, PrideSports, and housekeepers, and a year ago, I would never have even dreamt that. >> There've been a lot of hard work, and if I was doing it again, I'd probably take a bit of time off, because the year ahead, only going to be much harder. It's been terrifying, brilliant, exhausting, stressful, exciting, and the most amazing thing I've ever done in my life. I wouldn't be doing anything else. >> For me personally, the biggest change in the last 12 months, has been the transition from working in a large corporate environment, for over 20 years, to one in which now I can achieve a lot more, and a lot more satisfaction running my own organization, and doing the things that I want to do to change the world. >> If you are an ambitious social entrepreneur, and want to find out more, please email us. [MUSIC].
