A day in the life: A social entrepreneur
Ben is the founder of Saints Coffee which is a specialty coffee shop, cocktail bar and social enterprise in Northampton. The social enterprise element works to address key social and health issues facing the people in Northampton including homelessness, mental health and educational disadvantage.
I was inspired to do this because…
I believe businesses should have purpose as well as profits as their driving forces and I was tired of working for large corporations that pay lip service to social causes. I grew up in Northampton and while I’ve had the opportunity to study, work and live in Oxford, London and Hong Kong, I wanted to go invest in my own town and the local economy and hire people from vulnerable groups to give them better employment opportunities.
A typical day…
Doesn’t tend to be that typical! I can be doing anything from talks at local schools, helping students overcome barriers like discrimination, or providing employability training to people from disadvantaged backgrounds including prison-leavers, people overcoming addictions, and mothers who have been out of work for a long period of time. Some days see me making cocktails or flat whites!
The best thing about my job is…
Working with people - cliched I know, but I enjoy the variety of people I meet, ranging from people on our social programmes, to customers with fascinating stories to business partners with interesting and innovative ideas.
The most challenging thing about my job…
Is the hours. It feels very different working 60-70 hours a week in hospitality than it did in management consulting or banking.
My lived experience has affected my career decisions and outlook on life…
I learned early on the impact inequality can have on people’s lives - particularly young people. Coming from a deeply working-class area and background and as an ethnic minority, it was an eye-opener to go to the University of Oxford and then a corporate career with PwC in London and HSBC in Hong Kong and see the advantages other people took for granted. An even more striking lesson was seeing how long and hard it took for me to use an Economics and Management degree from Oxford to get into a position in my career others assumed was a birthright. It’s made me feel very strongly that I want to spend time working with people from different walks of life that may feel their own destinies are pre-determined when I believe they’re not.
What I do to switch off…
I stop drinking coffee! When I get time, I like to read and write poetry and, like most people, I enjoy travelling.
The best decision I’ve taken in my career is…
To keep switching careers and have a rough plan for five-year segments of careers.
The best career advice I’ve received is…
Be authentic. It takes all sorts to make teams successful and the world doesn’t necessarily need more ‘alpha/Type A’ people - particularly men, and it doesn’t need people pretending to be that way. Everybody has a strength they're bringing to the table and the best route to success is understanding your own strength and, more importantly, identifying who is better than you at stuff and working with them.
The three qualities I think you need for this career are…
Perseverance – it’s surprising how often you have to persuade people that you can help them, their school/students, their charity, or other people. For free!
An interest in people – there’s no hiding or enjoying some alone time at a desk.
Patience - when setting up a business, there can be a lot of obstacles and delays and you have to keep your end goal in mind and have the confidence that you will finally get there.