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City Drive is back — now rebranded Social Enterprise Drive 21, packed with events, fully online

March 18, 2021
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
With 21 online events over five days from 19th-23rd April, Social Enterprise Drive 2021 (the rebranded City Drive) is back for its eighth year, celebrating social enterprise in Birmingham and beyond. While tirelessly organised as ever by the team at iSE, Social Enterprise Drive couldn
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iSE announces cancellation of City Drive 2020 events

March 16, 2020
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Under iSE’s leadership and facilitation, City Drive has always been a collaborative event. Many social enterprises support it with activities and events, many contribute to its planning, and a substantial number of City Drive supporters help with generous sponsorship. After disc
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It feels as if City Drive 2020 has already started

March 09, 2020
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
UPDATE 16/03/20: All City Drive 2020 events cancelled due to the threat posed by Covid-19 — read announcement At least, that was the case on Thursday afternoon, the 5th of March. Sarah Crawley, our dear friend Ian Cuthbert of Cuthbert Design and myself were busy at iSE — a
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‘Place-based investing for impact’ — report published

June 10, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
This year City Drive 2019 included an event called Impact Investing for Place which considered new trends in place-based social investment and social economy development. The event was kindly sponsored by Big Society Capital, chaired by its Social Sector Engagement Director, Melanie M
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Please help by giving iSE some feedback on City Drive 2019

May 29, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Rebecca Giannelli at iSE has just been in touch to say: CITY DRIVE once again proved to be the biggest social enterprise event in Birmingham’s calendar, with 18 events taking place all over the city. Here at iSE we thoroughly enjoyed what was a non-stop week showcasing Birmingham as a
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City Drive — New Start Stories event: great ideas, determination and an extraordinary personal story

April 09, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
When we trailed last night’s New Start Stories event at Evolve @ The Adam & Eve we said “expect open, frank conversation and stimulating insights”. We were not disappointed. Indeed, one of the stories we heard caused an audible collective gasp from the audie
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City Drive 2019 starts today

April 08, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
City Drive 2019 starts today, an annual week showcasing social enterprise across Birmingham city, organised by iSE CIC on behalf of supporters, sponsors and the wider sector. This year City Drive takes place over six days for the first time with 19 events and over 750 ticket plac
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Full City Drive programme now available

March 18, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
The full City Drive 2019 programme is now available — click here. → See all posts tagged City Drive
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City Drive 2019 — social enterprise conference: 8th April

March 11, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
→ UPDATE: The full City Drive programme is now available. City Drive 2019 kicks off in grand style this year with a Social Enterprise Conference. The conference theme is exploring new business ideas that maximise social impact. Details WHEN:  8th April 2019, 9.00am registration,
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City Drive 2019 — Impact Investing for Place: 11th April

March 07, 2019
by Alun Severn
1 Comment
Hold the date for yet another interesting and unusual City Drive event… Impact Investing for Place. Details below. In promoting this event, Sarah Crawley explains: I am especially delighted that we are running this event as I believe it’s the first conversation of its kind. The
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Hold the dates — for these very special City Drive events

March 04, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Hold the dates for these very special City Drive 2019 events… WHAT: Jewellery Quarter Music Walk WHEN: Wed, 10 April 2019, 11am to 1pm; COST: £5.92 (inc booking fee) WHERE: Jewellery Quarter, 16 Frederick St, Birmingham B1 3HE Join Jez Collins, founder of the Birmingham Music Ar
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City Drive 2019 — You are invited to ‘New-Start Stories’

March 01, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Further to this post, you are warmly invited to ‘New Start Stories’, sponsored by BSSEC and held as part of City Drive. Come and hear from four very different new starts and find out what starting a social enterprise is really like… Light refreshments will be served.
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City Drive 2019 — 8th April: hold the date for more ‘new-start stories’…

February 27, 2019
by Alun Severn
1 Comment
During City Drive last year BSSEC sponsored a very successful and enjoyable event called New-Start Stories: The Unvarnished Truth. We found that while new-start social entrepreneurs were keen to tell their stories and people were keen to hear them, there were very few opportunities to
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Calling Birmingham-based social enterprises — City Drive is back for 2019: be part of it

February 11, 2019
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
CityDrive 2019 is a week-long festival of social enterprise in Birmingham organised by iSE. iSE is now seeking social enterprises that want to be part of the exciting CityDrive 2019 programme. From pop-ups, workshops and marketplaces, talks, debates, networks and awareness raisin
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100s of guests and over 50 exhibitors celebrate recognition of Birmingham as a social enterprise city

April 27, 2018
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
UPDATED 14th June 2018: More coverage of this event and Birmingham’s Social Enterprise ~City achievement HERE. Today, the final day of City Drive 2018, also marked Birmingham’s successful bid to be recognised as a Social Enterprise City and it saw the city’s social e
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Who starts new social enterprises and why? Three recent new-starts told us their extraordinary stories

April 24, 2018
by Alun Severn
1 Comment
For nine months or so now, as part of an Awards for All funded project, we have been documenting the changing face of social enterprise by covering the stories of newer, younger social enterprises that are new on the scene. What’s it like to start a new social enterprise in the
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Retail Therapy Event at John Lewis, Birmingham – City Drive week

April 20, 2018
by Mark Ellerby
0 Comment
 Retail Therapy Event, with Martin Hogg, Citizen Coaching CIC Tuesday 24th April 2pm-4.30pm Part of City Drive Week Join Martin, for a ‘warts and all’ roundtable discussion to explore retail challenges, successes and what what’s working in social enterprise retail. We’ll cov
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City Drive 2018 — full programme released, including invitation to SE Festival

April 11, 2018
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
The folk at iSE have been pulling out all the stops again and the full programme for City Drive 2018 is now available, kicking off on Monday 23rd April. Also of note, invitations for the City Drive’s flagship Social Enterprise Festival have also been released — see below.
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New-start stories: the unvarnished truth — 23rd April, 5-7pm, Evolve @ The Adam & Eve

April 09, 2018
by Alun Severn
1 Comment
It’s extremely hard for new social enterprises to find a time and place to discuss shared problems, reflect on their experiences, have a good natter — and if needs be let off steam. We thought it would be a good idea to sponsor a City Drive event which we hope will offer j
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New-start stories: the unvarnished truth — 23rd April, 5-7pm, Evolve @ The Adam & Eve

March 28, 2018
by Alun Severn
0 Comment
Since July of last year, as part of an Awards for All funded project BSSEC been searching out and publishing the stories of newer, younger social enterprises. We have called these stories the changing face of social enterprise. The reason for doing this was two-fold. First, the sector
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Exterior restoration of historic Argent Centre completed
Apr 13, 2021
Community conversation events -- Business in the Community and Midland Metro Alliance
Apr 12, 2021
Social Enterprise Drive 21 -- all events open for booking
Apr 06, 2021
Human Library Birmingham offers free mentoring for SE leaders & founders in WM
Mar 30, 2021

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BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL SOCIAL ECONOMY CONSORTIUM C.I.C., trading as BSSEC. A community interest company registered in England and Wales with company no. 07992674. Registered office: c/o Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES | All rights reserved | Copyright 2013-BSSEC | Created by Citizen Click