Hannah Smith
Hannah is a passionate advocate for social entrepreneurship, and specialises in understanding and supporting collective and collaborative approaches to creating positive social change . She has over eight years experience of working with enterprising charities, social businesses and leading social entrepreneurs in diverse contexts and is a natural born ‘connector’. Curious, conscientious and full of energy, she wants to inspire and build better systems for releasing untapped human potential in the face of social challenges.
What has she done?
Recent work includes venture development with a range of progressive organisations, such as dynamic start-ups Spark+Mettle and Urbivore, and two projects with world-renowned centre for social innovation, the Young Foundation. She also has a keen interest in the power of networks, and supports organisations such as the Social Enterprise Academy in developing connections and relationships that will amplify their impact.
Previously, she worked with leading American social business Better World Books, to develop the UK division of their operation and before that, she spent several years in the charity retail sector, managing teams at Oxfam and the Charities’ Advisory Trust. She also serves on the Board of pioneering fair trade retail organisation, One World Shop and acts as an Ambassador for award-winning youth development charity READ International.
She has an undergraduate degree from Trinity College, Dublin and recently completed a Masters in Social Entrepreneurship, achieving a Distinction. Her thesis was entitled ‘Conceptualising social entrepreneurship for the 21st century: is it time to end our fascination with heroes?’
She is based in Edinburgh but equally at home in London and Wellington, New Zealand.
Awards & Associations
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
- Winston Churchill Fellow 2013. Undertaking research into the practice of social entrepreneurship in New Zealand and the South Pacific.
- Mentor for the Rayne Fellowship for Refugees, supporting refugees start social ventures to build bridges between communities.
Ask Hannah About...
- Social enterprise and social entrepreneurship (and the difference between them)
- The process and practice of social entrepreneurship in different cultural contexts
- Developing and nurturing high impact networks, relationships and partnerships
- Piloting & prototyping fresh ideas
- Replicating and adapting approaches for new geographies or contexts
- Approaches to measuring social impact (especially SROI)
- Working with young people and inter-generational groups
- Volunteer recruitment, retention and management
- Charity and online retail (especially books)
- Getting off the beaten track in Scotland and New Zealand