Through Bristol Hub’s Social Innovation Programme, I gained a wide variety of skills, learned about consulting, and made a difference to the local community. This blog will cover how I heard about Bristol Hub and the Social Innovation Programme, and what I learned from the programme.
I was inspired to apply to a Bristol Hub programme after hearing about their opportunities and outreach at the University of Bristol’s 2023 Welcome Fair. I applied to the Social Innovation Programme as it was an opportunity to try something brand new. Also, as an economics student, I had heard of consulting before the programme, but had no experience and a lack of understanding of the processes and tasks performed by consultants.
Following my successful application, I joined with a team of four other students, and we were given a brief to complete. This involved research, marketing suggestions, and generating ideas for our charity’s board game project. The programme culminated in a final report and presentation at the Burges Salmon offices.
The programme was an incredible opportunity to develop skills, including:
- Teamwork. We held weekly meetings, brainstormed, listened to each other, and worked together to define the project scope and further our ideas.
- Research. Our brief involved significant amounts of independent work. I used trusted resources and read scholarly articles about educational board games, as well as using the UK government’s charity commission page to find information about similar sized charities for case studies.
- Report writing. This was my first time writing an advisory rather than academic reports. Upon reflection, our group could have benefited from some brevity to make it clearer to our charity what our key recommendations were as we had a very long report. Nevertheless, structuring, formatting, and writing the report was beneficial.
- Client communication and confidence. This opportunity allowed me to work with different people: staff at Bristol Hub, our corporate mentor and other members of staff at Burges Salmon, and our two charity representatives. Having regular meetings and communicating my ideas to these groups not only developed our research and report, but also improved my confidence. I now know a bit more about what to expect from charity client meetings, how small charities and organisations work, and the lifestyle and responsibilities of working at a corporation like Burges Salmon.
The Social Innovation Programme reminded me how many charities there are in the UK and worldwide who are working hard to make an impact in their local communities. I gained valuable skills and insight into what small-scale charity consulting is like, as well as seeing behind the scenes of how charities work. I used this experience to stand out in my application to team members and later committee members for 180 Degrees Consulting Bristol, a student society who also provide consulting services to charities. The firsthand experience in providing strategy consulting services to a local charity was a highlight of my first year.
If you would like to gain the skills and experiences outlined above, consider applying to one of Bristol Hub’s programmes. These are fantastic opportunities for personal and professional development: you can meet like-minded and passionate people, learn new things and receive relevant training, and work as a team to support a charity and the local community.
