On the 14^th of November, the King’s E-Lab welcomed brand guru Rita Clifton for a fireside chat with EMBA 2023 student Jennifer Swimley to discuss the UK's most successful employee-owned company, John Lewis, founded in 1864 and entrusted to employees in 1929. Read from Nadejda Petrova about the event’s main insights and Ms. Clifton’s expert tips on how to build a personal brand including how she learnt to work with her imposter self rather than hide from it in order to succeed in her career.

This month the E-Lab hosted its Social Ventures Residential for the second year, bringing together 41 scholars from across the University of Cambridge to engage on the meaning and the purpose of social innovation and entrepreneurship. In collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Programme and the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation, the residential is an intensive three-day programme designed to equip students with a solid grounding and an array of tools with which to pursue their interest in social ventures. One of the scholars, Maureen Abel, reflects on her experience in this week’s blog.

In October 2024, the E-Lab hosted a power panel of social entrepreneurs facilitated by Maggie Robb (PwC) and Tofik Saad (School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE)). The event demonstrated the benefit of collaborations between social enterprises, public organisations and private sector stakeholders. This week, Maggie Robb recounts the social programmes of PwC and their various benefits. These initiatives present important lessons for how to integrate a spirit of community engagement and social impact into private sector activities.

MPhil student Shufaa Hame’s start-up, ‘Kuwiswe’, aims to bring ethically created African-made products to global customers and to tackle the exploitation of the continent as only a source of raw materials. Kuwiswe acts as an online platform that connects African-owned businesses with a global market and, also, as a call to rethink people’s mindsets when it comes to the purchases they make. Its goal is two-fold: to celebrate the quality and artistic value of Tanzania and the continent, and to actively foster conscious consumers. Read more about Shufaa’s inspiration for her social venture Kuwiswe here.

In 2024, the E-Lab ran the second edition of our Entrepreneurship Essay Competition. The purpose of the competition is to encourage UK-based school students to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations and understand better how to launch an enterprise. The students choose between three essay questions which reflects the importance of entrepreneurism and the challenges that businesses face. This week, we share the essay of runner up, Keon Robert from Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet, who explains how Grameen Bank in Bangladesh embodies the essence of sustainable and successful social enterprise.

Social enterprises face unique challenges when it comes to measuring impact. Distinct from traditional business models, these organisations are driven by the aim to create meaningful and sustainable difference in the lives of their beneficiaries. These kinds of impact can be far more intangible than that which constitutes usual business metrics. As a consequence, innovative approaches to measure and understand impact are often required. Noise Solution, a music mentoring programme for at-risk youth, provides just such an example of this. Simon Glenister, the founder of Noise Solution and panellist from the our Catalysts for Change event, shares his insights of their approach.