FranchisingWorks has seen two new members of staff join the team, as part of a series of changes within FranchisingWorks following the completion of our programme pilot and a move towards financial sustainability.

Lucy Campbell joined in September to head operations in Manchester. With extensive experience in applying commercial business approaches to sustainable programmes with social aims, Lucy will be looking to improve the effectiveness of our programme in the Greater Manchester region. Lucy’s recent experience has included managing the commercial and operation requirements for catering social enterprise Create in North West and Yorkshire and heading a digital inclusion social enterprise in the North.

Mark Richardson (pictured left) has also joined the team from the Shaftesbury Partnership to manage the FranchisingWorks Licence Fund. Mark Richardson has been a leader in the social enterprise sector since the age of 21 when he founded and franchised Aspire, a ground-breaking social enterprise that employs and trains homeless people. As a Regional Business Advisor in North Wales he supported the development of 107 different social enterprises and community co-operatives in two years. In 2011 he was appointed a Fellow on the Clore Social Leadership Programme, became a Fellow of the Third Sector Research Centre and established Social Impact Consulting.