Our Story
Flourish Together was born in 2016 when Founding Directors Directors Nickala Torkington, Jo McGrath and Anne Strachan spotted a need for tailored support for women developing social ventures.
Back in 2012, Nickala, Jo and Anne had set up a series of pilot projects under the banner of ‘The Women Supporting Social Entrepreneurs Network’. The network flourished, and in 2016, Flourish Together was set up as a Community Interest Company.
We could see the enormous potential for women to thrive as innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders. Our first-hand experience showed us how social enterprise can empower women to lead change – and lift themselves out of hardship and inflexible work situations at the same time. They just needed the right support – support that wasn’t out there.
Since then, Flourish has grown organically and continues to evolve – adapting services and activities to meet local, regional and national need – to support women changemakers, to foster greater collaboration across the sector and to promote positive change in communities.
Our Team
Nickala Torkington
Co-founder and Managing Director
Nickala has supported social innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders for over 22 years to create the change they see needed in communities. She has personally coached and intensively supported over 2,500 social entrepreneurs to develop projects, businesses and campaigns which create social change predominantly in the North West – and across the UK. A specialist in social value Nickala is listed as one of the top 100 Women in Social Enterprise nationally. She was shortlisted for an Institute of Directors Award in 2020, shortlisted in the Northern Power Women Awards in 2017 as ‘Mentor of the Year’ and Highly Commended in the Innovation Category in 2020. She was also awarded Woman of the Year in Social Enterprise as part of the Inspiring Women Awards in 2019.
To further the strategic development and support of the Social Enterprise Sector, Nickala sits on a range of groups, networks and boards including Greater Manchester Social Enterprise Network, Greater Manchester Social Enterprise Action Group and BASE (an organisation supporting and advocating for culturally diverse groups across Greater Manchester).
Nickala is a proud single parent and when not working too hard likes to head to the beach or the mountains.
Anna Oliva
Admin & Programme Support
Anna joined the Flourish network through the Time to Grow programme, when she was developing ReCreate Mossley – an arts & craft for wellbeing community group based in Tameside. Through coaching, networking & peer support, Anna gained skills & connections and joined the Flourish Together team, providing admin & programme support.
Debbie Tomkies
Director
Debbie is a textile designer with over 25 years’ experience as a hand-dyer, author and tutor and a founding director of Making Futures CIC, a social enterprise that aims to build confidence, wellbeing and self-esteem through creative activity. Making Futures works with community groups, schools, colleges and third sector organisations to deliver a wide range of workshops, classes, City & Guilds, Arts Award and Artsmark.
An experienced retailer and designer-maker Debbie also offers business mentoring and start-up advice to new creative enterprises. In particular she works with individuals who face barriers to employment, working with them to set up home-based creative businesses that allow them to achieve their potential whilst having regard to any specific needs they may have.
Rana Kadiri
Director
Rana Khadiri has diverse experience that spans across the public, private and third sector in a range of areas from digital and tech, legal, enterprise, learning and development, domestic abuse and politics. Rana has led and delivered many amazing initiatives from organising and managing political campaigns, running digital workshops, organising and delivering training to providing mentoring and support to women experiencing domestic abuse. A common theme amongst these is her passion for ensuring people achieve their full potential and making a positive change in communities. She has held previous roles in the Digital Growth team at The Business Growth Hub and at 10GM.