Since 2005 we've raised over £21m of investment finance.
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The Foundation is Eastside's learning and development arm, which offers you the opportunity to develop and build skills through working with social entrepreneurs.
If you are a graduate or young professional interested in social enterprise, then apply to our Associate Programme today.
Simon Fenton
Consultant
Expertise
Grass roots experience of setting up social enterprises. See Historical, below.
Passions @ work
The variety of organisations that I work with never fails to inspire me.
I enjoy using my entrepreneurial experiences from different sectors to help organisations develop sustainable business solutions that deliver genuine social change.
Passions away from work
My main passions are music, both playing and watching, and travel, the recent culmination of which was a recent trip to the remote festival in the desert near Timbuktu. When not making noise, I love spending time with family and friends, photography, cooking and I've been known to perform the odd bit of improvisational comedy.
Historical
I started my career as a biologist working for a British agricultural company, which I found a bit dull until I was asked to help set up a new business in Vietnam. Four years later, I'd built a £3million farm in a remote part of the country and typical days involved visiting local farmers by canoe to dispense technical advice on pig breeding and trying to avoid being fed offal by friendly locals. Most inspiring was watching poor communities develop through enterprise, and I decided to make this the focus of my future career.
On return to England I became involved in the homelessness sector whilst working as National Resource Director for Street League, a charity that engages people through the power of sport. As well as fundraising I project managed the setting up of a branch in Leicester.
I was able to bring together both my business and charity experience together when I set up and ran StreetShine, a social enterprise that provides training, support and employment for homeless people by gaining contracts with city companies to provide shoe care and car cleaning services.
Previous Experience
• Chief Executive - StreetShine (2004-2008)
• National Resource Director - Street League (2002-2003)
• Operations Manager - PIC Vietnam (1999-2001)
• Production manager - PIC Vietnam (1997-1999)
• Technical consultant - PIC UK (1995-1996)
Education
Fellow of School for Social Entrepreneurs
BSc(Hon) Applied Biology, Coventry University
Nationality
British
Languages
English, Conversational Vietnamese
3SC, a national consortium, that has been developed by Eastside and Futurebuilders recently learnt that it has been awarded the Future Jobs Fund contract by DWP.
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