A social enterprise is a business model that combines profit-making activities with a primary focus on addressing social or environmental issues. Unlike traditional businesses, social enterprises reinvest their profits back into their mission, supporting initiatives to create positive change in society.
Dream Media, based at Smerdon Day Centre, specialises in animation, filming, and the production of short films. Our team raises awareness about important topics chosen by our employees and provides services such as film transfer, photo scanning, filming, and editing for local events.
Equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, our gardening enterprise offers contracts to grow fresh produce and maintain green spaces. Employees work alongside the team to cultivate vegetables used in our day centres’ meals and offer plants and hanging baskets for sale to support our centre’s vital funds.
Dream Cards showcases the creativity of our employees by crafting high-quality greetings cards for all occasions, including bespoke designs tailored to your event. Contact us directly to learn more about our branded cards and make purchases.
Capture unforgettable moments with our popular photobooth service, available for events nationwide. Operated and post-produced by our employees, our photobooths come with a variety of props, outfits, and green screen effects to suit your event’s theme.
Mark Gordon is our Social Enterprise Co-ordinator, whose passion for supporting adults with learning disabilities spans over two decades. His innovative initiatives, such as setting up a computer suite and exploring digital photography and filmmaking, have transformed our services and empowered our clients with paid work opportunities.
Join us in our mission to create a more inclusive and socially responsible world by contacting us today to learn more about our social enterprises and explore opportunities for collaboration or involvement.
Despite a successful stint as one of the youngest finance directors in London, specialising in mergers and acquisitions for a prominent advertising company, Marc found his professional success to be hollow. Driven by a desire to serve the community, he left the lucrative world of finance to establish an accountancy practice and business consultancy in Lewisham. His mission was clear: guide local start-ups and small businesses toward financial transparency and profitability.
As Marc’s consultancy flourished, he received a crucial call from Eleanor in 2005, who was struggling to keep her nursing agency afloat after 26 years. Marc took on the challenge, initiating a leap of faith that marked the beginning of a transformative journey. Today, the Eleanor Healthcare Group stands as a model business in the care sector, with over 1500 dedicated members, fluent in 112 languages, supporting over 3000 clients. The senior staff, with a combined experience of over 100 years in health and social care, has been instrumental in guiding and participating in the organisation’s remarkable growth.
Marc draws inspiration from his team of staff, care workers, and frontline keyworkers, acknowledging their role in preserving the life and dignity of the most vulnerable in the community. He emphasises that Eleanor is an organization with people at its core, having created a paradigm shift in the care sector with the driving principle that social care is about people, not processes. In 2009, Marc introduced the concept of person-centric care, responding to a request from Richmond Council. Eleanor Healthcare Group led the transformation, offering tailor-made services and pioneering an outcomes-based approach in collaboration with local authorities. The organisation then took a leading role in preventive care, integrating health and social care services and introducing a novel caring model to Lewisham Council based on the Buurtzorg model.
Despite numerous achievements, Marc sees success as just the beginning. The Eleanor family remains ready to take another leap of faith, with trust in people above processes. In the face of mounting challenges to health and social care systems, Marc has been steering Eleanor to the forefront of much-needed innovation within the UK and globally. Eleanor Healthcare Group takes pride in its identity, never compromising integrity, and always preserving its true essence. The commitment to taking the road less travelled is evident as it approaches the next fork in the future of healthcare, promising to continue breaking new ground and redefine possibilities.