By Business Development Manager Zahra Hedges (views author’s own)
I’m a big fan of radio. I listen to radio and podcasts more than I watch TV, and I love local radio, having spent much of my teen and student years volunteering at a hospital radio service.
A few months ago I was approached by Simone, presenter of the the Community and Social Enterprise show on Sunny Govan, a community radio station based in the South side of Glasgow but broadcasting to the whole city, and indeed the world via the website.
Simone interviews people from a lot of community groups, charities and social enterprises and she said that time and time again our name was mentioned as being a significant help to their organisations. Obviously, really heartwarming to hear but we both realised that we had the potential to do more and over the past few months we’ve been working on a few different ideas.
It started with a couple of interviews as part of the Communities show (broadcasts live on a Tuesday lunchtime and repeated in the week) where we covered a whole range of topics including my journey into social enterprise, the support landscape for social enterprises, some of the challenges our clients face and how we can help, and more generally how organisations can become more sustainable.
I have to confess that I didn’t tell anyone the first two times I went on the radio. Apart from my mum as she’d still love me regardless!
I had agreed with my manager that I’d be appearing but didn’t actually tell her when because I was so concerned that I’d mess up!
The idea of going on the radio can be intimidating - there were many ‘risks’ running through my mind - What if I dried up? What if I said the wrong thing? What if I ummed and ahed? What if? What if? What if?
But I’ve always embraced that which makes me uncomfortable and the older I get the more I realise that other people don’t pay as much attention to you as you think so I just went for it. And actually, here’s the thing. I am a passionate believer in the power of business to do good. I am a proponent of social enterprise and genuinely believe that charities, community groups and social enterprises are making massive difference to our world and should be supported. I also know that my amazing colleagues at CEIS provide fantastic and meaningful support to the third sector and I can talk endlessly about the ways in which we have helped our clients become more sustainable and have more impact.
So as soon as the mic opened, that’s what I was thinking about. Simone is an excellent and empathetic host and the time flew by. To anyone interested in promoting their cause via Sunny Govan, I’d say go for it. Your passion for your project is all people are going to hear, and any mistakes you make will really only be obvious to you.
We are now sponsoring Simone’s show on Sunny Govan and are looking to offer an Advice Clinic slot where staff and volunteers at charities, community groups and social enterprises will be able to write or phone in with questions or challenges and our advisers will give some hints and tips, so watch this space.
As part of our sponsorship we were invited to pop into the studio to talk more about what we do in the Enterprise and Communities team at CEIS but of course, being me, it veered off into other areas too. Have a listen , and then contact Sunny Govan about perhaps getting involved yourself.
Listen to my interview below