Doing good, doing business – Unseen Tours, London-based social enterprise

Social enterprise is a dynamic and inspiring way to do business, it’s an exciting and fast growing sector, a movement not just in the United Kingdom but around the world.

Social enterprises are businesses trading to address social problems, improve communities, people’s life chances or the environment. It sounds really similar to charity work but it is different. These enterprises make and do things to make profits like any other business, but they are reinvesting their profits to make more good. They do this in different ways: reinvesting in community projects, providing services for people who otherwise might not get them, or creating jobs for people who would otherwise be excluded from work. That’s what Unseen Tours did, does and will do.

Unseen Tours is an award-winning, not-for-profit social enterprise in London. Currently, they offer 6 alternative walking tours through the capital’s most vibrant and interesting neighbourhoods – Brick Lane, Brixton, Camden, Covent Garden, London Bridge and Shoreditch –, led by homeless and formerly homeless guides.

“We never wanted to be a charity, we wanted to make profit and reinvest that money, that’s why we are a social enterprise.” – says Faye Shields, the director.
It all started in 2010 as a project by Sock Mob Events, an informal volunteer network – so called because through regular weekly walks they offered socks, food and friendship for men and women living on the streets of London.

Their guides earn a living through the tours. They directly receive 60% of the ticket sales. And what happens to the other 40%? It’s reinvested as well, out of that 40% the guides also receive their monthly travel and mobile top-ups and the remainder is used for essential operational costs. Any profit Unseen Tours makes is directly reinvested into the enterprise to engage more guides and widen the scope of the tours.

Of course people are needed to run a business. People who work behind the scenes of the successful social enterprise are volunteers. They fit volunteering around their full-time job responsibilities to help making Unseen Tour a success.

The enterprise works like a real business; they have a director, the different tours have coordinators, they even have a person to manage their social media.
Unseen Tours offers a unique experience of the capital and unique insight into London’s life whilst giving visibility and voice to people who often feel unseen and unheard.

Unseen Tours is a social enterprise with great purpose – to change perceptions of the homeless and to provide an income to individuals who might otherwise be excluded from work. They are doing good but also business. With their business strategy, so far they have helped 20 homeless or formerly homeless people back on their feet.

To find out more about Unseen Tours and to book a tour visit their website here. Take part and win prizes in their newest campaign, share your unseen story with #MyUnseenStory on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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