The City of Manchester was from my first visit a place in which I felt at home, similar in many ways to my beloved Glasgow in spirit. It has been in Manchester that I have met and worked with some of the very best and most inspirational people. This began in 2014 when a chance encounter with Rose Marley, at that time CEO of Social Enterprise SharpFutures, led me into third sector projects which have in turn fed into my passion for doing business differently.
SharpFutures has for over 10 years been enabling and supporting young people into careers across digital, tech and broadcast sectors. Simultaneously they have been instrumental in staging some of the most momentous music events including Manchester Together In One Voice which brought Mancunians together during the challenging days of COVID lockdown. I have been privileged to help spread the word about such events across print, online and broadcast platforms and as a result worked with some legendary performers and creatives.
Rose has since become the CEO of Co-operatives UK and my current passion is working with her team helping to attract more people to the co-operative model which of course originated in Rochdale but has now rolled out around the globe. Again, I get to use my voice and skills to give voice to people who are often too busy to make noise themselves. My great privilege these days is to work with Rose and her brilliant team to help show people that we can indeed work in cooperation and succeed in making sure we live in a more equal and fairer society.
