Social Enterprise Exchange

Andrew Heaward is the Founder and Managing Director of purpose-led, not-for-profit fundraising, strategy and impact consultancy HewardSports Ltd., which today trades as Heaward Solutions. 

He is a graduate of Bradford University, having completed a BA (Hons) in Community Studies (Leisure & Recreation) in 1993. He also completed his MBA (Senior Leadership) at Keele University. In 2023, after a brief period in sales, Andrew’s career was properly launched in 1994 whilst working for Teignbridge District Council before moving for a more senior role at Devon County Council. Both posts focused on sport, leisure and youth work. At Devon County Council, his role included developing an innovative outdoor pursuits-based youth empowerment project. There he discovered his talent for fundraising and project-based work, successfully securing his first major grant, £30,000 to fund one of the Royal Yachting Association's first mobile Topper dinghy fleets. 

Since then, he has managed large-scale public services with teams of over 100 staff and multi-million pound budgets and has been responsible for helping deliver over £38m of externally funded projects for a huge range of organisations.  Andrew is a specialist in fundraising, especially from trusts and foundations, strategy development, marketing, monitoring and evaluation. All of these disciplines are tightly aligned and vital to the success of any not-for-profit organisation. 

Andrew is a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and also a full member of both the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. He is also a founding trustee of Launch It Stoke-on-Trent, an innovative youth enterprise charity.

Ann is the Managing Director of Kakou Technologies, a B certified Corporation offering a range of consultancy services including bespoke IoT and product design, accessible technologies, website and mobile app design, digital and web accessibility audits, sustainability frameworks, and training and workshops.

Ann is also the Co-founder, Director and Principal Electronic Engineer at Kokou CIC, a community-focused social enterprise that develops new technologies to remove barriers for those with disabilities to enable participation in mainstream music, creative arts and wellbeing activities. Ann is also the driving force behind the SocialFuse Festival, an initiative celebrating social innovation and entrepreneurship within Chesterfield and the wider Derbyshire area. The festival brings together changemakers, businesses and communities to explore ideas and create solutions that address social and environmental challenges.

Anne Wylie is a Senior Lecturer in Business and Management at the University of Derby and Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Business Management undergraduate degree. Anne is passionate about social entrepreneurship education and has written a module on Social and Sustainable Enterprise for the BA (Hons) Business Management programme.

Anne is deeply committed to embedding sustainability in her teaching, is certified carbon literate, and is an Enactus Adviser for student-led projects aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to her teaching and programme leadership duties, Anne’s commitment extends beyond academics, providing holistic support for personal, professional, and academic growth as a Personal Academic Tutor.

Prior to joining the University of Derby in 2017, Anne taught Higher Education courses in Further Education in the UK and worked overseas within financial services regulation at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and at the University College of the Cayman Islands. Anne is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Derby, focusing on social entrepreneurship education.

Dr. Barbara Tomasella, a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Derby Business School and a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability since 2015, excels in teaching and supervising at various academic levels. Her research focuses on Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Entrepreneurship, and Education for Sustainable Development (both in the marketing and enterprise context). Passionate about embedding sustainability in teaching, she is a certified carbon literacy educator and a certified consultant for GRI sustainability reporting.

Before joining Academia in 2014, Barbara worked for 15 years as a sustainable consultant for various organizations in travel and tourism. She brings extensive practical sustainability consultancy experience to her academic role, enriching her insights into sustainable business practices.

Having completed some of his professional qualifications at the University at the beginning of his procurement career, Geoff joined the University of Derby as Deputy Director, Commercial & Procurement in 2022. He’s keen to share insights from his 20 years’ experience of procurement in the private and public sector at Capital One Bank, The Royal Mail Group and the University to help you understand and engage effectively with buying organisations.

An experienced leader in cultural and social enterprise sectors, Keith has founded and led multiple organizations aimed at fostering artistic and social innovation. His expertise lies in transforming creative ideas into sustainable ventures.

Paul brings a wealth of experience in developing community and enterprise sectors, with a strong focus on supporting startups and social ventures. A skilled coach, he is passionate about empowering entrepreneurs to achieve their fullest potential.

Mark Gilman is a Professor of Economics with lead responsibilities within the University of Derby Regional Economic Observatory, whose purpose is to build a robust evidence base to inform economic and social policy deliberations, engage with people and businesses, and produce analysis to support engagement with national government policy. His focus is on the areas of SME Performance and Growth and Human Resource Management, and developing people and performance.

 
People are the drivers and backbone of all organisations and the economy. If we get this right, we start to make a significant contribution to all of our lives. Mark starts all his work by developing world-class research on personal and organisational growth and performance, and then translates it into tools and services that help business owners and their staff to understand the dynamics of the organisation, its stakeholders, and wider growth and performance issues.