‘Ask and advise' meet-up date for social enterprises

THE Ludgate Hub in Skibbereen will host its first free ‘Ask & Advise’ evening, aiming to help local organisations – from charities to social enterprises to businesses with a social conscience. 

It will take place in the West Cork Hotel next Tuesday December 4th at 6pm.

This will be an informal (beer & pizza) meet-ups where local social enterprises, community organisations and charities get to share their day-to-day challenges with local business, with everyone in the room welcome to offer advice, suggestions or share a useful contact.

The event is taking place in partnership with the Irish Social Business Campus (ISBC) – a new initiative supporting the creation and growth of businesses for social impact, of which Ludgate is a founding partner. 

‘Positive social impact is very much at the heart of Ludgate, and we want to support those who make a real difference in our communities,’ says Adrienne Harrington, Ludgate’s CEO. 

‘We aim to give them the tools and support they need to take their organisation to the next level and connect them with people that might be able to help.’

The evening will be facilitated by BNest – another of ISBC’s founding partners. Eamon Ryan of BNest says: ‘Our idea is simple – we want to gather together in one room those who work on making positive social impact and anyone willing to help them with advice.’ 

The host of the evening will be Chris MM Gordon, founder of the Irish Social Enterprise Network. Chris said that those evenings are beneficial for social enterprises who often find themselves caught between two stools as they are trying to ‘make profits selling products and services, but are also trying to achieve the social aspect.

Irish Social Business Campus is planning to run a four-month incubator programme based at Ludgate. 

This will be the first extension of a programme which has been running in Limerick for the past three years, with applications to open in early 2019.

Registration for the event is free. Search Eventbrite.ie for AskAdvise West Cork.