From the Midlands: Recent Episodes
Gail Downey
Welcome to From the Midlands, a series of podcasts with the extraordinary people who are making a difference to the lives of people who live and work here. From giving a helping hand to people in need to achievements in the fields of technology, sport, business, film and much, much more, we celebrate the men and women from the Midlands. The podcasts are the creation of journalist and broadcaster Gail Downey who wanted a place to share the good news stories and the great work of people in our region.
Port Vale FC chairman Carol Shanahan is a woman on a mission. As one of only two female owners of an English football club – the other being Delia Smith at Norwich City – she wants her team to win.
But for Carol it is much than just success on the pitch. While that is important – and she has ambitions to take Port Vale up the league – it is the impact a football club makes off the field which is at the heart of what she does.
Carol left school without any qualifications and could easily have drifted from one unfulfilling job to another. But when she was given the chance to have an interview with an IT company in Stoke on Trent she took it. The rest, as they say, is history.
Over the past five years Carol has set up the charity The Hubb Foundation supporting local people in Stoke. It provides meals and activities for low income families during the summer holidays. Her work led to her being awarded the OBE.
She and her husband Kevin own and run Synectics Solutions, a major IT risk and fraud company, which supports the charity and works with the Port Vale Foundation Trust. The Trust looks at ways to encourage sport and activities, education and social inclusion in the community.
If that wasn’t enough, they then bought Port Vale FC and through the club, extend support to the area. For Carol the fortunes of the club cannot be separated from the fortunes of the city.
“Whether you are a football fan or not, when the club does well, it lifts the city. Football is about faith and belief. Port Vale is a massive part of this community and it’s important we keep the faith.”
For further information on The Hubb Foundation contact info@thehubbfoundation.com and Port Vale Foundation - foundation.trust@port-vale.co.uk
The interview was recorded pre-season in March 2021.
It’s hard to imagine how a biscuit can change lives – but that’s exactly what the macaroons of Birmingham based Miss Macaroon are doing every day. The social enterprise company was set up by local high-end pastry chef Rosie Ginday with just £500 in her pocket and one employee. Now ten years on, it is a thriving business achieving its mission of supporting inexperienced and often disillusioned young people into work.
Rosie’s fine art degree, chef training and passion for perfection has meant her macaroons are bought by some of the biggest companies in the UK. Miss Macaroon is the only patisserie in the world to use a Pantone matching service i.e. able to get the exact colour of a company’s branding replicated onto her biscuits.
But it’s not just the corporate world who want Miss Macaroon products. They’re also on sale to the public in her shop in the Great Western Arcade in Birmingham and in pop up shops.
Miss Macaroon has been noticed in royal circles too. The business made macaroon gift bags for Prince Harry and Megan Markle when they came to Birmingham for their engagement tour. That led to an invitation to their wedding.
Rosie, herself, was awarded an MBE for her work but she doesn’t plan to rest on her laurels. Instead, her mission continues - to change the world for young unemployed people in Birmingham – one macaroon at a time. www.missmacaroon.co.uk
Guy Schanschieff has always been an entrepreneur. As a child he set up jumble sales and fruit and veg stalls. From an early age he knew he wanted to run his own business. The question was what would it be?
A chance meeting gave him the answer and a way of combining his passion for the environment with his entrepreneurial skills. His business – Northamptonshire based Bambino Mio – is now the biggest reusable nappy brand in the world, with products available in more than 50 countries.
The team at Bambino Mio are on a mission to spread the word about reusables as an environmentally friendly, cost-effective and simple alternative to the disposable nappies which end up on landfill sites. His campaign for change – to make reusable nappies commercially and socially accepted worldwide – has led him to working with governments across the world.
Now, nearly twenty-five years on, with an MBE and a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, Guy talks about how Bambino Mio began, his hopes for the future and why giving back to the local community in Northamptonshire is in the company’s DNA.
If you would like to know more about Bambino Mio contact hello@bambinomio.com or visit bambinomio.com
Entrepreneur Steven Greenall was nine years old when he started playing the trombone. It is a passion which never left him. But little did he know at the time it would spark a global business which has led to half a million children all over the world playing the instruments his company now makes.
The secret of his success is the trombone is made of plastic. This means it is lighter, brighter (it comes in a number of colours) and less expensive than the traditional heavier brass instruments on which children used to learn.