Idaraya Life CIC
What is the social venture you developed?
My Social Enterprise was born out of my desire to make physical exercise more appealing for women, especially black women. I began carrying out a personal training qualification out of the end of 2019, where I had the opportunity to study this through a government scheme. During the first lockdown, I successfully completed my fitness teacher qualification. Throughout this time, I would host my own fitness classes via Zoom for my friends and family, where they would give some critical feedback in terms of what I can do to improve my classes.
I found out about Community Interest Companies which provide an enterprising ‘not for private profit’ company structure, used to innovate and address social issues and realised that I could help people who might not be able to access or afford some of the private sector run companies offering physical exercise. I liked the idea of the importance of taking care of yourself holistically, there were so many different aspects to take care of yourself, and I wanted people to understand that it goes beyond just physical exercise. I want to change the mentality of how people view physical health, and I decided to focus primarily on black women because I feel like they struggle the most with their health.
How did you come into contact with Flourish?
It was serendipitous! There was an organisation in Wigan that provided exercise sessions for pregnant women. I only attended one or two sessions. After I had my kid, I was at home a lot due to illness. Towards the end of September, I received an email from Cara who runs the organisation and she spoke about the Time To Grow program. Me and a friend of mine were working on our own social enterprise ideas and wanted to make a difference in our communities whilst earning a living, and so we both decided to sign up for the programme.
What have been the highs and low of the programme for you?
I was surprised and inspired by the sheer quantity of women change-makers there were! It made me realise that my goals are achievable. They also showed me how people have their own niche, and that I should find mine. I remember when we were given a quiz during a Christmas event which quizzed us about the women changemakers across Greater Manchester. I saw how there were only a few women from diverse backgrounds – this inspired me to meet the needs of black women and empower women from under represented backgrounds. The Time to Grow programme provided me with a plethora of information of the best quality to help me develop myself and ideas, as well as making connections with others for support and business opportunities.
What has been your proudest achievement so far?
My proudest achievement so far was raising a lot of money, this was directly related to my learning and experience on the Time To Grow programme as well as other programmes I was a part of in the last year. The Flourish programme made clear on how to see my Community Interest Company as a viable business. We obtained some initial start up funding in the region of £300.00 from the Flourish Mentor-a-thon and then received £10,000.00 from the National Lottery Awards for All to develop and grow project and ideas to evolve into social business services. We have been at an advantage as some funders have been prioritising support for black women in particular. We also raised just under £1,000.00 through the “Empowering Women fund”, plus £750.00 through the mental health fund and then we received £5,000.00 pounds funded by Comic Relief Global Majority Fund administered by the Carribean and African Health Network (CAHN)! So we have been very successful this past year and now rolling our sleeves up to deliver the work, grow our business, and make a difference in those communities who need it the most
What are your plans for the future?
I see us developing services and holistic support that we can provide for a specific demographic who are under represented. I am currently developing creative life-skills courses for refugees. There is a gap of support for refugees and their trauma and life experiences, which I am hoping to fill. I am planning on delivering this in January of 2022. We also plan to offer more support for women and hope to provide a health care programme that can be rolled out to support people across the UK
Do you have any tips for others thinking about starting their own projects?
Don’t make it hard for yourself! If you have an idea that you are considering, ask opinions from others and from your community so you can better understand their need and test demand for the service you want to deliver. Don’t ponder!
You can contact Ayisatu by email and follow Idaraya Life on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. You can also visit www.idaraya-life.org
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