Over the last nine years, we have created a fantastic community of alumni, judges, supporters, and fellow entrepreneurial eco-system organisations. To celebrate our 20th round, our supporters have helped us to crowdfund an additional winner who will be selected by the community with up to £20,000 in grant funding.
This funding will allow us to present the very first Community EDGE Award to an early-stage Scottish business that is doing something positive to support their community or positively impact the planet.
From 200 Round 20 applications, the below three businesses have been shortlisted for their excellent work in support of their communities, and we want you to help us decide who should receive the Community EDGE Award.
Please watch the pitch videos below and cast your vote. The winning business will be selected at the Scottish EDGE Round 20 Awards on Wednesday 7th Dec at Royal Bank of Scotland Conference Centre. Tickets can be booked at the link above.
Community EDGE Finalists
Meet the finalists competing for the £20k Community EDGE Award. See the finalist pitch videos below and use the button to vote.
(Only one vote per device, duplicates will be discounted)
Business: Clarity Walk
READ DESCRIPTION
Clarity Walk is a Highland social enterprise that improves mental health and wellbeing through ‘digital detox’ walks and nature-based activities for individuals and schoolchildren.
Since August 2019, Clarity Walk has supported over 8000 attendees to reconnect in nature, supported over 200 children with additional support needs and/or trauma backgrounds and collected over 4600 litres of rubbish from local nature spots.
With volunteer help the main services are:
No-fee daily community walks for all ages and abilities providing a welcoming experience that reduces community isolation. This includes men’s walks to build a stronger male community to encourage men to talk openly.
5-week and day nature programs for schools and youth programs to support children with additional support needs and/or children with trauma backgrounds. This can consist of team building and mindfulness; therapeutic arts and crafts; shelter building/beach days; navigation and hammocks, and fire building and safety.
Public sector wellbeing programs for additional support needs and those recovering from drug and alcohol issues. This combines employability skills with digital detox walks.
Mental health workshops and presentations for workplaces to provide simple actionable strategies to improve mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
Clarity is transitioning from a grant-reliance model to a revenue-generating model, so Scottish EDGE community funding would allow Clarity to achieve this and create the social impact the business strives for.
Business: Boss Girls CIC
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The Boss Girls platform has helped connect over 20k people with local businesses through its online group and events. This in itself has had a great impact on the community, making it easier for people to shop and support local businesses.
Boss Girls also has a Podcast, giving women a place to share their stories and inspire others, and the founder was recently invited to Leeds University to share the positive impact that bringing a diverse group of women together can have.
Our Business Academy, which launched last year supports a growing number of over 100 women, essentially giving them a business toolbox that fits in with their busy life - leaving them feeling less overwhelmed, less isolated, more positive, and equipped to achieve their goals.
The reach and figures of Boss Girls’ growth confirm the impact that the company is creating through being the bridge between its community to local businesses, and from business owners to each other. The connection and community Boss Girls has created is what makes it stand out, and also what attracts such a large number of people.
Winning the Community EDGE Award would massively help Boss Girls’ future plans to - create new job opportunities, marketing campaigns to help reach a far wider audience, including rural Scotland where female entrepreneurship is far higher than in cities, open a creative workspace for women to work, with facilities to support their business visibility such as a podcast station, and a video hub and social media station - this will also be a place to help women connect, learn and feel inspired.
Business: Jambo! Radio
READ DESCRIPTION
Jambo! Radio broadcast content includes:
Mental Health and Wellbeing
News and sports highlights
Interviews and live debates
Music-based and talk-shows in, English, Yoruba, Pidgin, French and Swahili with music from North, Central, South, East Africa and the Caribbean and music made in Scotland.
As a business, Jambo! offers:
On-air advertising
Programme/s sponsorship opportunities
Social media advertising
DJ Services
Organise Cultural Events
Employability and digital skills training using broadcast production technology tools and processes
The population of Scotland is increasingly diverse and has paved the way for growing identity of Black and Scottish. Within this growing population, are people rooted to both Scottish and African/Caribbean cultures and languages.
Jambo! supports its community, especially the young people who already face multiple barriers to employment, supporting them with employability and digital skills training. Working with its partners, Jambo! exposes its community to employment opportunities in various sectors in Scotland, creates jobs to support people in the community, and empowers community voices to participate in local and national events and conversations.
Jambo! supports those that have been socially excluded due to prolonged stay in the immigration system, and those that have fallen out of the mainstream education system and not in employment or training, with volunteering opportunities as a pathway to employment or training.
In two years, Jambo! has created four full-time jobs, four temporary jobs, two graduate internships, trained eleven young people in employability and digital skills, five have gained apprenticeship roles, three returned to further education and three obtained employment.