Innovative solutions to social challenges

Jennifer Macdonald, director of community supported organic farm and delivery business Woodside Arran, was voted Firstport’s Young Social Innovator 2017, winning a £5000 prize and business support.

Jennifer runs an organic market garden and mobile shop serving the rural communities of Arran, addressing the lack of access to affordable, good quality, fresh vegetables on the island. Customers can subscribe for weekly vegetable boxes or buy direct and low income residents can exchange hours of work for free food through a work share scheme.

She said: ‘Winning the Social Innovation Competition gave us a huge boost of confidence, but also allowed us to support more people to access our services a lot quicker than we would have been able to on our own.

‘It has fast tracked our business by about six months and allowed us to carry out a lot of the activities we didn’t think we would be able to do, at a very challenging time for farming. Winning allowed us to look ahead to the 2018 season and prepare for where we want to be by the end of the year, rather than having to make do with where we are now.’

Do you have a business idea that could make a difference?

This year the Social Innovation Competition is celebrating Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018 by looking for individuals with the most exciting, innovative ideas and solutions to social challenges affecting young people in Scotland. This could be through giving them access to new opportunities or helping them to overcome barriers and inequalities.

At an earlier stage with your idea?

Take a look at Firstport’s Pounds for Purpose programme. Designed to support those aged 16 to 26 to take a positive stand on the issues they care about, with awards of £500 up for grabs to test your idea.