Image: Arjun Kharpal
A business that started in Islington has been named Social Enterprise of the Year.
The Hub was given the prestigious title at The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) awards ceremony, an event that celebrated start-up businesses around the country.
The Hub is a co-working space for social entrepreneurs to come together and share ideas.
Members come to use the space to work and develop their ideas for start-up businesses.
There are nearly 40 Hubs across the globe but it all began in Islington.
TiE, a non-profit organisation that represents entrepreneurs, said that The Hub was: “about the power of innovation through collaboration”.
Alex Soskin, who picked up the award, explained how the project began in Angel:
“We saw a bit of a problem with employment, and the structure of graduate programmes. Not everybody gets to succeed and go through.
“We thought: ‘This isn’t quite right. Why don’t we create a collaborative environment where people can bounce ideas off each other and help each other grow.’ They were the fundamentals of the first Hub.”
Soskin, managing director of Hub Westminster, said: “This award is a great recognition of all the hard work that we’ve done, and the importance of these collaborative work spaces. We’ve hit the nail on the head.”
He added: “Put a bunch of entrepreneurs and highly motivated individuals in the same room, they’re much more likely to succeed as a group. The success rates of start-ups who work within a Hub are considerably higher than general UK start-up survival rates.”
Fellow award winner Deepak Kuntawala, who won Global Entrepreneur of the Year, said that the Hub was a worthy winner.
“Being in the same room as all these people, getting an insight into what others have done and achieved is brilliant. They’re the future of tomorrow.
Kuntawala, founder of international finance company DVK Group, added: “These hubs are brilliant. The best talent will stem out of all these different hubs.”
