Ten pupils from Currie Primary School met fellow social entrepreneurs, Social Bite to gather top tips to help them set up their very own enterprise café in their school to support their local community.
The session, which was set up through the Social Enterprise Academy, allowed the pupils to ask questions and hear from a real local social enterprise.
Currie Primary School has been involved in the Social Enterprise Schools programme for the past six months and following a presentation from other schools in Scotland and Malaysia, who are also taking part in the programme, pupils from Currie Primary in Edinburgh decided to start their own social enterprise café with the aim of giving all the profits to children dealing with cancer.
As this was set to be Currie Primary’s first social enterprise café, the pupils were looking for professional guidance from local social enterprise veterans, Social Bite.
Neil Mackenzie, teacher, Currie Primary, said: “We are so grateful to both the Social Enterprise Academy and Social Bite for meeting with our pupils to give them the experience and guidance to succeed when setting up our café.
“Running a social enterprise gives them such invaluable skills and knowledge – not only of finance but also practical skills and they were really excited to hear first-hand what it’s like to be involved in such successful enterprise like Social Bite.
“Getting a flavour of what it’s like running a business at an early age makes them both driven and proud of their work and having this experience could open up opportunities for employment later in life as well.
“Our social enterprise is still in very early stages, but the pupils are so excited to get started and the ideas they come up with are amazing. It’s been a privilege to watch them think about what kind of change they want to see in their community.”
The Social Enterprise Schools programme has already reached more than 50,000 pupils at 938 schools across Scotland’s 32 local authorities and The Social Enterprise Academy aims to roll out to every school in Scotland by 2024.
Neil McLean, CEO, Social Enterprise Academy, said: “We were delighted to welcome Currie Primary School to the Social Enterprise Academy and deliver this session together with Social Bite.
“Seeing the creativity and ingenuity from young people when they come up with their social enterprises is really inspiring and the pupils were so engaged which was fantastic to see! Social Enterprise plays a vital role in our society – through running their own social enterprise, these young people are developing the essential skills that they need to succeed in life and work and be positive assets in their communities.”
The pupils from Currie Primary used the session to conduct market research, listen to advice on managing money and sourcing equipment for their café.
Cindy Cosgrove, Social Bite, said: “Currie Primary have supported Social Bite for a number of years and we were thrilled to participate and share our experience to help the pupils with their social enterprise project.
“Being able to inspire and guide others to make a difference is essential to our work. We know real and sustained positive change requires everyone to get involved; young people are not only the future, but they are changing the world today. We will be watching on in anticipation and look forward to visiting when it opens.”