Celebrating five years of the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize

The Cambridge Social Innovation Prize is five years old, and to celebrate five exceptional social entrepreneurs have been recognised for their achievements and ambition in creating social change through business.

This year’s winners were selected for their socially impactful practices in community healthcare; employment of the homeless, empowerment of young leaders, the delivery of independent news for the global impact community and working with organisations to create impactful supply chains.

The 2023 Cambridge Social Innovation Prize is awarded by Trinity Hall and the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation at the University of Cambridge, supported by a generous donation from Trinity Hall alumnus Graham Ross Russell.

And the winners are …

Dr Liz Dennis, Co-Founder of The Filo Project

Based in Devon, East Lancashire, Somerset, Torbay and most recently, Cornwall, The Filo Project offers high quality day care for small groups of older people, supporting individuals who are socially isolated, many of whom are experiencing symptoms associated with moderate dementia. The framework allows clients to grow in confidence and make friends, reducing the physical and mental health issues associated with isolation.

Aoise Keogan-Nooshabadi, Co-Founder and COO of Supply Change

Supply Change is a social enterprise platform, which allows buyers to find social environmental suppliers based on location, trade, and social impact, enabling the procurement of everything from food and drink to marketing, cleaning, road signage, flooring, energy and more.

Zakia Moulaoui, Founder and CEO of Invisible Cities

The team at Invisible Cities trains those who’ve experienced homelessness to be tour guides in the cities they live in. The tours are designed to break down the stigma surrounding homelessness, giving the tourist the opportunity to learn and be entertained through narrative of personal experience. The tour guide social enterprise began in Edinburgh and can now be found in York, Manchester, Cardiff, and Glasgow.

Poku Osei, Founder and CEO of Babbasa

Babbasa is a social enterprise created to tackle the challenges of youth unemployment and educational underachievement in Bristol’s ethnically diverse inner city communities.
Underpinned by the desire to ensure young people’s aspirations and opportunities should not be determined by their background, Poku and his team work with young people to explore and nurture their unique skills and talents to develop their leadership abilities and career opportunities.

Tim West, Founder Editor and CEO of Pioneers Post

The purpose of the of the social enterprise online magazine, Pioneers Post is to be “an independent media platform committed to ‘solutions-led’ journalism”. Through its delivery of multimedia news, features, and expert articles, the journalism team focuses on the work the social enterprise and impact investment industry.

Tim is involved in a number of different organisations, working to promote social entrepreneurship, and connecting social entrepreneurs with social impact investment companies.

Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation

Nicole Helwig, Executive Director for the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation says of the prize’s importance in the social enterprise space:

“On this the fifth anniversary of the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize, we are thrilled to celebrate five outstanding individuals. They come from diverse backgrounds with expertise and skills channelled towards creating social impact. They represent their ventures, but also the many people who work alongside them, behind the scenes and who are empowered through their efforts”.

These awards are made annually to extraordinary founder-CEOs of scale-up social enterprises to support their growth as leaders. Uniquely, the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize recognises mid-career social innovators; and the prize includes a £10,000 cash award for personal and professional development. Additionally, mentoring from experts at Cambridge Judge Business School and support from an expanding community of social innovators at Trinity Hall will help them to develop the skills, resources, and networks they need to create more impact from their work.

The prize is the cornerstone of an ongoing collaboration between Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge Business School and Trinity Hall, one of the oldest colleges at the University. Together, the School and the College are working to foster an interest in social innovation and entrepreneurship among students, fellows, and alumni, encouraging them to create new businesses and to pursue careers rooted in social and environmental impact.