First Honorary Social Enterprise UK Fellows

2017 will mark the 15th anniversary of Social Enterprise UK. In the last 15 years the UK social enterprise sector has grown, evolved and increased its visibility and impact considerably.

The growth of the sector is due, in large part, to the individuals who work at its very heart, taking their own organisations from strength to strength but also playing a large part in shaping, guiding and championing the social enterprise movement as a whole. Social Enterprise UK wanted to recognise those who have contributed to creating such a diverse, thriving and truly impactful community from both within the sector and outside, and also those who are making great strides to drive the sector forwards now.

This year’s fellows are chosen to represent the sheer diversity of talent from across the country and include well known figures, as well as those who have yet to be fully recognised for their contributions.

Social Enterprise UK aim to announce a number of new honorary fellows each year at the Awards, but below are the individuals who will be recognised in the 2017 cohort.

At number 3 are our very own Lindsey Hall & Matt Little:

Lindsey Hall is co-founder and CEO of the Real Ideas Organisation group, leading and managing the organisation to run it’s own social enterprise ventures and enable others, particularly young people to set up and run their own socially entrepreneurial activities, solving problems and building skills.

Lindsey’s track record in the public and private sectors as a social entrepreneur, thinker and leader has seen her set up and develop products and services across the creative, learning and education sectors. From building award-winning programmes in the UK to driving groundbreaking initiatives internationally, Lindsey has the experience and skills at management, board and executive level to steer social business ideas towards success; making money and making a difference at the same time.

Lindsey is a NESTA Cultural Leadership fellow, an INSEAD graduate, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Trustee of 15 Cornwall, member of Plymouth Growth Board and has recently been selected as one of the WISE100 social enterprise leaders.

Matt Littleis a founder director and Head of Impact and Research at the Real Ideas Organisation CIC. He is passionate about social enterprise, particularly in relation to more effective and sustainable creation of public and community value. He works with staff across RIO to make sure the work we do has real impact socially and economically, and that this impact is understood, developed and communicated clearly. He has particular expertise in relation to culture, creativity and children and young people, and works with a range of organisations externally to help them develop their social enterprise practice, including helping start up a number of other innovative organisations in this area over the last 15 years.

He previously worked in a variety of roles from policy advisor in Whitehall, through to refugee resettlement, managing community regeneration schemes, and running the Creative Partnerships school creativity programme in Bristol. He has relevant degrees from the Universities of Oxford and British Columbia and has held a Commonwealth Scholarship and Churchill Fellowship.

Congratulations Lindsey and Matt!

If you’d like to read Social Enterprise UK’s full Honorary Fellowship article, click here.