Staff
Anthony is the Chief Executive at Participate and has fifteen years’ experience of supporting social ventures through direct support and engagement of the private sector. He has strong local and national peer networks and a track record of partnership working and dissemination of best practice in this field. Anthony has worked directly with hundreds of new and growing enterprises and has established award winning support programmes.
Gemma is Business Manager at Participate and has extensive experience of working in community development, business development and economic development roles. Gemma is responsible for project development, fundraising, bid writing, organisational policy and procedure and contract management. She has twelve years project management, fundraising and procurement experience and is a PRINCE2 practitioner.
Rachel is an Enterprise Coach and business for good team co-ordinator in the Business for Good team. Rachel has a strong background in supporting and empowering people to achieve in life and business. Rachel has experience of setting up business incubation space, delivering business support and developing high profile engagement activities.
Luke is our Business Engagement Lead. He is responsible for the delivery of our Good Team Building volunteering days and engaging new businesses, new community groups and new volunteers. He has over 11 years’ experience of working in the community and creating the right atmosphere for social action to take place.
Jill is our Youth Social Venture Co-ordinator and is responsible for the development and delivery of our youth citizenship programme. The programme supports primary school children to develop their own ideas for social change. Jill is a former primary school teacher and has experience of setting up a successful social venture to address a need she identified in her own community.
Waj is our Senior Enterprise Coach. He provides a positive and enthusiastic approach to enterprise coaching. He works with local entrepreneurs to inspire them to fulfil their business goals. Waj is lead coach for the Business for Good West Yorkshire programme, supporting individuals, groups and organisations in Bradford as well as leading the coaching team.
Zakeria is an Enterprise Coach, specifically focussed on supporting enterprise in the Manningham Mills Hub . A project working in partnership with Equality Together (funded through Esmee Fairburn over 5 years) to create a community led enterprise hub in Manningham.
Rob is an Enterprise Coach in the Business for Good programme. A project that’s working across West Yorkshire to support socially focussed businesses to grow, sustain or start. Rob supports individuals, groups and organisations in Wakefield and Kirklees.
Paul is an Enterprise Coach in the Business for Good programme. A project that’s working across West Yorkshire to support socially focussed businesses to grow, sustain or start. Paul supports individuals, groups and organisations in Leeds.
Katherine is an Enterprise Coach in the Business for Good programme. A project that’s working across West Yorkshire to support socially focussed businesses to grow, sustain or start. Katherine supports individuals, groups and organisations in Kirklees and Calderdale.
Ewan is an Associate and works as a consultant on organisational development for established social ventures; providing coaching and board facilitation around action planning and communications strategy. Ewan has a background in enterprise coaching and EU project management. He is an accredited and peer reviewed Solution Focused Coaching practitioner and avid user of Service Design tools.
Tony works alongside our team as an associate. Tony was previously the CEO of a multi million pound community anchor organisation and brings a wealth of experience and skills to the team.
Leadership
Susan has recently retired from the property industry and is passionate about helping local communities. She has recently become Chair of trustees for Keighley Creative and a long standing member of Soroptimist International of Yorkshire . Susan is well networked and is keen to further develop Participate’s reach and impact.
Michael is a Finance Manager with extensive experience in a variety of sectors including the third sector, construction, manufacturing, transport and environmental services. He specialises in bookkeeping, management accounts and business planning. Michael is one the founder trustees of Participate.
After spending a career working in sewage (literally on occasions), Geoff ‘retired’ to run his own company in leader/manager training. He’s passionate about community participation and co-creation of solutions to challenging problems. He is also a trustee of The Aire Rivers Trust and a school governor in several schools for many years.
Paris previously worked at Participate and is now pursuing a career in Retail Media & Marketing. She has a real interest in the work Participate does to benefit the community and wants to be able to offer advice on spreading awareness of this! She specialises in social media, marketing and design. Paris is also interested in learning more of what it takes behind the scenes to run a charity.
Osman is experienced in business management and operations, and uses his skills and knowledge to make a positive impact. He is also passionate about art and culture, as well as in creating more opportunities for communities.