At O & K we are committed to giving something back to our community and helping others.
As an accountancy practice in Croydon we have a young environment, and we are all socially connected. We believe we can make a difference in the world and especially in Croydon, even though we are a relatively small company.
“I truly believe that businesses that don’t address social responsibility, and more importantly, don’t put this at the heart of their operations,will suffer over the medium to long term” Richard Branson
“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want the chance to change the world?” Steve Jobs
We have been sponsors at the Croydon Business Awards for the past three years and we will continue to support this local event.
Three of the biggest challenges of our time are
- Economic stagnation.
- Poverty and suffering.
- Youth unemployment
O&K are committed to giving back to help empower those less unfortunate than ourselves. So here is what we are going to do…………
Firstly we have agreed as an accountancy firm in Croydon to support the work of Paul Funnell and his Croydon company Enterprise Cube C.I.C.
Paul and his team have been working with housing associations, homeless hostels, even ex-offenders and ex-gang members providing 10 week business start up programmes.
With a host of new partners in their work to help disadvantage people start businesses their first 3 months have been busy, and they’ve seen many businesses flourish, further convincing us that enterprise can change lives and of the benefit of Creating & Unlocking Business for Everyone!
The programmes have been so well received that Enterprise Cube is now running courses in Bromley and Maidenhead. They are pleased to announce they’ll soon be embarking on their next set of Strive programmes across England.
Up to 175 disadvantaged and local entrepreneurs will join them as they launch seven new Strive programmes during 2013 with a great collection of partners including Affinity Sutton, Genesis, Housing Solutions and Riverside Homeless Hostel.
At the end of a ten week programme residents / participants get the opportunity to present their business idea to a panel, who ask questions of them and give them advice.
I was lucky enough to be invited to Maidenhead for one such presentation and was asked to be on a panel with Cllr David Burbage, leader of Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and John Petit Housing Solutions Chief Executive. The panel awarded an incredible package of Housing Solutions backed start-up support including: social start-up loans, contracts, memberships to the chamber of commerce, free marketing and ongoing support from the CUBE team.
Theresa May, Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities, joined us presenting the residents the numerous start-up support packages as they graduated from their Strive Further Start-up training programme.
“It’s a great day and exciting to see the great work [Enterprise CUBE] are having in helping residents to start businesses”, said the Home Secretary before going on to present certificates to start-ups she hopes will go on to become successful businesses that will create employment for other people in the community.
It’s a great start to a relationship which we hope will make a real difference to peoples lives.
Call me Simon Maddox, Partner at O&K on 0208 686 7756 or Contact Here for more information about our social enterprise initiatives
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