Support Young Social Entrepreneurs
Social Enterprise Academy
Description
For many organisations, having a lasting positive impact on your local community, meeting KPI's and fuelling employee engagement is the ambition, but what will have the greatest impact?
Through our Coach to Succeed Programme, we connect organisations with local schools. Your employees become volunteer mentors to young people; the change agents of the future, helping them develop social enterprise ideas, culminating in a Dragon’s Den-style showcase.
The programme builds immense pride and a sense of belonging among employees, develops confidence and business skills among young people, and meaningfully strengthens connections to the local community by addressing the issues they face.
Together, we will deliver meaningful social impact with young people in the community and create change that your people are proud of.
What do we do:
The Social Enterprise Academy Social Enterprise Schools (SES) has many facets, but at its core, it is a programme about transformational learning, supporting young people to see themselves in a different light. It connects the idea of developing agency in a community context with the development of skills for life, employment, and learning. The social enterprise element is the context in which these skills are both acquired and developed. It provides a significant contribution to the development of the capacities set out as the purpose of Scotland's curriculum: confident individuals, effective contributors, responsible citizens and successful learners.
Facilitating a partnership between corporate and social enterprises, we build on the current programme by enhancing our young people's learning experience through mentoring. Our Coach to Succeed Programme supports organisations in meeting their KPIs and ESG goals, as well as retaining and developing their current talent, whilst connecting with potential talent of the future. Building the profile of their industry and brand whilst creating meaningful impact for young people, the social issues they care about, and the communities they are part of.
What Your Organisation Will Gain
Partnering with the Social Enterprise Academy offers clear benefits for your business:
1. Deliver on ESG and Corporate Responsibility Goals
- Social impact: Directly support young people to develop skills, confidence, and pathways into employment
- Community engagement: Invest in local communities and social change initiatives
- Environmental & ethical awareness: Support youth-led projects addressing sustainability and social challenges
- This programme provides tangible, reportable outcomes that align with ESG strategies, particularly within social value, skills development, and community investment commitments.
2. Develop and Engage Your People
- Enhance employee engagement and retention through purposeful volunteering.
- Build leadership, coaching and communication skills in your staff.
- Provide meaningful development opportunities linked to talent pathways and internal progression.
3. Strengthen Your Talent Pipeline
- Connect with future talent at an early stage.
- Increase awareness of your sector and career opportunities.
- Position your organisation as an employer of choice among young people.
4. Build Brand and Reputation
- Demonstrate a visible commitment to social impact and education
- Strengthen your corporate brand and community presence
- Share powerful impact stories across your communications and ESG reporting
The Opportunity
We are seeking business partners to scale this impact through two key contributions:
1. Financial Sponsorship
- A targeted investment to support programme delivery in schools and communities.
- Sponsorship directly funds facilitation, resources, and support for young people
- Flexible sponsorship levels depending on scope and reach, including named award sponsorship at our flagship annual awards
- Provides clear, measurable outcomes for ESG, procurement KPI's and social value reporting
2. Coach to Succeed (Employee Mentoring)
A paid for mentoring programme where employees support a group of young people where the mentors live and work:
- Support pupils to develop their ideas, confidence, and enterprise skills
- Typically around 6 days, including mentoring development and focused sessions across the academic year
- Social Enterprise Academy delivered information sessions to promote the opportunity
- Fully managed application and matching process, including PVG and DBS checks
- Fully supported by Social Enterprise Academy buddies
- All mentor session guides provided
- One-to-one coaching for mentors
- Designed to fit around working schedules
The Ask
We are inviting organisations to:
- Commit to annual sponsorship to enable delivery and impact at scale
- Sponsorship of our Annual Awards, making our awards accessible to young people and recognising their special achievements
- Fund and resource the Coach to Succeed mentoring programme
Why It Matters
Your investment and people will directly support young people in becoming confident individuals, effective contributors, responsible citizens, and successful learners, while helping you deliver tangible outcomes against your ESG strategy, KPIs, and organisational goals.