Revolutionise Enterprise – GO SOCIAL! was led last week by world-wide speaker, social entrepreneur and star of BBC’s The Apprentice, Melody Hossaini, in the Enterprise Zone at Boston College.

On Tuesday 21st April Melody spoke to both learners and members of the community on gaining success through social enterprise by giving back. Explaining that social enterprise is “a business with a good cause. That can either be for-profit or not-for-profit, operating with a central social mission- reinvesting some or all of the profit into the cause.”

Melody Hossaini created her own business, InspirEngage International, in 2009 with the aim of re-defining success and the path that people take to gain success. The company aims to do this through self-development skills bootcamps that are interactive, personal and exploratory. During the conference at Boston College, attendees were presented to and experienced examples of the activities that take place in such specialised skills bootcamps, learning most importantly how you can be successful by giving back to the community.

The overall aim of GO SOCIAL! at the college was to open learners’ and community members’ eyes to the possibility of social enterprise and how we can make our communities prosper by giving back.  Melody and her InspirEngage team brought the ‘Social Enterprise Revolution’ programme to Boston, forming a great foundation for what’s to come through Boston’s ‘Lead the Change’ project. This project aims to find, fund and support budding local social entrepreneurs, delivered in partnership by Boston College and TaylorITEX CIC, funded through UnLtd.

A signature presentation was delivered on ‘How to Change the World‘, in which Melody interacted with the learners and carefully pushed them out of their comfort zone. The presentation covered examples of how young people have improved their communities, the opportunities that are out there and why it’s important to be socially conscious as well as giving practical tips on how to make it happen.

Community members made up of social entrepreneurs and those interested in community development entered into the ethos of social enterprise by joining Boston College for a special social enterprise quiz by InspirEngage! They were also invited to write on the ideas wall in the Enterprise Zone, completing the sentence ‘Social Enterprise is when…’. InspirEngage selected its top 3, which were:

Social Enterprise is when… everybody profits. (by Neil Armstrong)

Social Enterprise is when… giving back to keep giving! (by Stephan Genovese)

Social Enterprise is when… business works for people. (by Richard Tory)

Boston College would like to thank their social enterprise friends who supported GO SOCIAL! by donating the prizes, One Brand, Elvis & Kresse, Tea People Ltd and Harry Specter Chocolates.

With InspirEngage being such a successful and world renowned business, the college, in conjunction with Boosting the Local Economy, provided their own learners and members of the community with an amazing opportunity by holding this conference. InspirEngage work in over 100 countries and have reached 1 million people in only 4 years of business.

Amanda Mosek, Principal of Boston College said, “Big thanks to Melody and her team at InspirEngage for delivering sessions at our first Social Enterprise conference, Revolutionise Enterprise – GO SOCIAL! I think that the feedback says it all, truly inspiring, engaging and motivating. The energy in the room was tangible!

We truly look forward to future working and Leading the Change in Boston.”

 

Feedback from people attending this event included;

“The fact that someone can inspire teenagers so much in an hour speech and give you so many ideas, is crazy! We were aspirational people already, but now I feel enlightened. We’re going to make a difference to people’s lives!” Marcia and Bobby, students, Boston College

“I thought it was a great event, focussing on the unique side of Social Enterprise. Melody was an empowering speaker, with her finger on the pulse of real life events and enterprising trends.” Josh Goodfellow, Fitness Entrepreneur.

“The event was a huge success with interesting facts being shared with the audience. Two productive parts of the event were a prize quiz with 10 questions and a thoughts board session. A huge well done to former Boston College student, Callum Brazzo on presenting to the audience about new Social Enterprise business, Spergy.” Nathan Bryant, MD Black Cat Designs Boston.

In summary of the event, Melody Hossaini herself said “It was an honour for InspirEngage International to have partnered with Boston College to host the first ever Social Enterprise Conference at the college. We designed the ‘Social Enterprise Revolution’ to help offer a wonderful opportunity for the community to both create jobs as well as make lives better, with the educational institution at the heart of it. I’m particularly moved by 2 students, Marcia and Bobby who came up with a social enterprise concept during the ‘How to Change the World’ session and have decided to take it forward! We look forward to working with the college and the Boston community in the future.”

For more information on how you could get involved with the Enterprise Zone at Boston College, please visit www.boston.ac.uk, or call the information line on 01205 313233.

Reproduced with permission from Boston College.
Original article available by visiting http://boston.ac.uk/news/Pages/BBC’s-The-Apprentice-star-visits-Boston-College.aspx