BEF Dig in
BEF help social enterprise
BEF Dig in
BEF along with Barclays get stuck into a real life example of Ground Force turning an urban jungle into a Garden of Eden.
30 members of staff turned up early on a Friday in April to shovel 4 tonnes of wood bark, saw, carry and fit 30 railway sleepers to make 6 raised beds for growing vegetables and fruit in the gardens of some local resident
But these gardens were no ordinary gardens. These gardens belonged to a local social enterprise who support and help refugees. Palm Cove, based in Bowling, Bradford have been helping and supporting refugees for a number of years now and have grown their business significantly to become one of the largest providers of sheltered accomodation for refugees in the region.
Barclays and BEF joined forces to make this happen and turn a derelict garden that was overgrown and full of rubbish into something the residents can use to grow their own fruit and vegetables.
Palm Cove
Palm Cove Society is a social enterprise which provides temporary supported housing for refugees and vulnerable individuals, it was established in August 2007. They started with one house with space for three women in Bradford. They currently have over 60 rooms and continue to expand.
In addition to the original loan, BEF have continued to support Palm Cove with further financial support and mentoring since its inception.
"The Business Enterprise Fund team are approachable, knowledgeable and innovative professionals who proved to be the catalyst that turned our vision of Palm Cove Society into a reality. They helped us create a strong foundation ensuring future sustainability through their excellent business management and dynamic mentoring facilities." Yvonne Hall - Director Palm Cove Society
Palm Cove have a unique approach in this sector providing primary care, guidance and support on lifestyle and health related issues to all its clients in addition to providing accommodation. Their clients are encouraged to engage in training and employment and they promote lifelong learning through collaborative involvement with local training and development facilities. They have successfully create a strong community among their clients and a system that allows a high level of support to be provided.
Fat Trap
Trap your Fat
Pierre Nortje Director of Capcan Ltd approached BEF in 2007 having designed and registered a EU patent for a new type of fat trap. Fat Traps trap fats oils and greases thereby stopping them from entering the waste water system and causing costly blockages. He needed funds to take the product to market and had exhausted all other financial avenues.
His product differs from those already available on the market due to its unique disposable liner, it is also cheaper, smaller, environmentally friendly and easier to maintain than competitors products.
BEF approved a loan and with the help of his mentor he designed a strategy to take the product forward. After making some sales arround the UK he signed a licencing agreement with an established supplier of fat traps, Catering Waste Limited.
Further product development took place to make it British Standard Compliant and a smaller liner was developed to prevent waste coffee granules entering the waste system. The product was rebranded The Renflo Range, and these new innovative products are making in roads into this established market.
http://www.renflo.com/products/coffee-grounds-and-food-solids-trap/
Salts Security Systems
“I almost called it a day” says security systems expert Paschal Duran. His growing business, Salts Security Systems, is now so busy that it has already created jobs for three installation engineers and is poised to become a major force in its sector.
A far cry from the situation Paschal, aged 47, of Edward Street, Saltaire, faced just a few months ago. He recalls: “I left my job with a Bradford security alarm company last February, determined to launch my own business. With many good contacts I soon won numerous orders, which were confirmed in writing.
“But the first three months were really tough. I didn’t have enough cash to pay for all the technical equipment customers wanted installing so I went to several banks looking for a business loan. Every one of them turned me away, saying my proposal was too risky.
The Business Enterprise Fund provided a substantial loan to Paschal to enable him to pay his staff and buy vital stock for the business. This money came from Bradford Council’s Kickstart programme under the Access2Finance scheme.
To top it all the Fund sourced a favorable invoice factoring deal for Salts Security to get the company’s cash flowing again. Says Paschal: “In one recent bumper month we raised invoices valued at more than £30,000 and we will smash our first year target of £150,000.
“Without Kickstart and the Business Enterprise Fund we would not have made it.”
Palm Cove Society
Palm Cove Society is a social enterprise which provides temporary supported housing for refugees and vulnerable individuals, it was established in August 2007. They started with one house with space for three women and currently have over 50 rooms. Although they started by providing accommodation and support for only women and children, they now also support single men and unaccompanied refugee children.
The business was started by Yvonne Hall and Gerard Stocks who spent a year researching their idea and formulated a new model for providing support of this kind. Their idea of providing accommodation in shared houses was considered as unworkable by many in the sector who believed that is was not possible to house people from different religions and countries together. Palm Cove Society have proved this to be wrong and by providing accommodation in one area with a central office they have successfully created a strong community among their clients and a system that allows a high level of support to be provided.
They are unique in this sector providing primary care, guidance and support on lifestyle and health related issues to all its clients in addition to providing accommodation. Palm Cove promotes lifelong learning through collaborative involvement with local training and development facilities. Their clients are encouraged to engage in training and employment and Palm Cove has close relationships with the Light of the World which provides English language training.
The company strives to provide added value services to their customers and it provides meeting rooms to Social Services and Housing Benefits allowing them to meet with a number of their clients in one place; saving them time and money. From July 2008 the Refugee Education and Training Service has been based from Palm Cove’s offices on one morning a week allowing them to work with Bradford clients more effectively.
"The Business Enterprise Fund team are approachable, knowledgeable and innovative professionals who proved to be the catalyst that turned our vision of Palm Cove Society into a reality. They helped us create a strong foundation ensuring future sustainability through their excellent business management and dynamic mentoring facilities." Yvonne Hall - Director Palm Cove Society
