Football is a serious business – to some more than others, perhaps – but certainly at Chelsea FC, where countless entrepreneurs have been helped on the way by an innovative networking opportunity, Edge of the Box Club, which is run by the Chelsea Foundation.
Part of the Premier League club’s community strategy and corporate social responsibility offering is an Entrepreneur Programme, using the powerful business model of Chelsea FC to bring businesses to life by inviting learners aged 19 or over, who are jobseekers or on a low income, to be part of a platform that explores entrepreneurship but at the same time disseminates modern-day business ideas and skills.
Some who join the programme come with an idea for a new business start-up, others are simply looking to improve their employability chances. The programmes, which take place throughout the year on a three-weeks-on, three-weeks-off basis, give attendees an opportunity to learn more about key elements of business including accounting, social media, website design, and branding and marketing, with a recognised qualification at the end. The programme aligns itself with Government’s New Enterprise Allowance scheme and offers much-needed support for early stage start-ups.
When Carl Southwell, Employability and Enterprise Manager at Chelsea Foundation, instigated the programme in 2015, he also identified a need for a follow-up process that gave those inspired or encouraged at the end of the three weeks to maintain close links with not only the club but others on the same journey.
Carl explained how the idea for the monthly Edge of the Box Club came about.
Having identified business support and employability skills as a good fit for Chelsea FC, we created the Entrepreneur Programme where in each session we take 10 to 15 jobseekers or those on less than £20,000 a year and give them the chance to gain or improve the kind of skills employers are looking for.
“It wasn’t necessarily about them starting their own business, but a lot of those who came to us had ideas for new ventures and figures show that around 40% of those who joined the programme with a start-up idea did end up launching that business.
“But we were aware that once they’d been through our programme, there wasn’t as much support as there could be for start-ups or early-stage businesses, and so we launched Edge of the Box. It’s not just for those who’ve been through the Entrepreneur Programme, anyone is welcome to join us if they think they might benefit from the support or sharing of knowledge and ideas that the meetings offer. It’s a place to work through problems and find solutions through collaboration.”
Since launching the programme, over 6,000 participants have joined sessions and it is hoped that the Edge of the Box Club meetings, which have been held online during the pandemic, will start in person again soon. Monthly sessions regularly attract in excess of 125 businesses and include a ‘marketplace’, where those who wish to set up a demonstration of new products and ideas in order to test the water can do so, as well as innovation workshops. Guest speakers deliver engaging and relevant content and, before each meeting winds up, a handful of attendees are chosen at random to have the opportunity to deliver a one-minute pitch to the room showcasing their venture.
Carl added:
“Chelsea, like a lot of football clubs, focus a lot of community involvement into young people and sport through its Foundation, but when we were devising a strategy for this locality and its needs, we could see that there was an opportunity for adults to improve their employability skills.
We’re not an accelerator scheme and we don’t help fund new businesses, but instead we make space available for them to come together and collaborate with people of the same mindset, who are at a similar stage in the journey. They get something practical, but they also get a sense of belonging.
“And an organisation like the Chelsea Foundation is able to provide opportunities they may not get at other groups – we’ve had organisations such as Google come along to meetings to speak to members and to add their expertise. Invaluable, for instance, when we were trying to help these small businesses digitise to cope with the effects of lockdown and the pandemic. We’re also collaborating with our club partners, such as Cadbury, who have shared their expertise through bespoke webinars about brand marketing, sales and strategy insights and analytics, providing a strong foundation in key disciplines crucial to the success of their ventures.
“People who come along are not all Chelsea fans, or even necessarily football fans, but I think at the end they go away feeling like part of the club – it shows the power of sport to engage people and inspire them.”
To find out more about the Chelsea FC Foundation Entrepreneur Programme or Edge of the Box Club, contact Carl Southwell at carl.southwell@chelseafc.com or visit www.chelseafc.com/en/foundation/enterprise—entrepreneurship