Following from my last post you will note that I arrived early at the Pea Awards.  After introducing myself to the solicitors that represented ELF I introduced myself to Larissa Clark who turned out to be responsible for media/PR for the Big 60 Million projects.  She certainly did her job well as she explained with real passion what the Big 60 million was all about and the feedback it was getting.  After a good chat we parted wishing each other a successful evening. 

At the award ceremony I saw Toddington Harper win PEA (People, Environment & Achievement) Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2014.  As Oliver Heath began to read out Mr Harper’s name and background my earlier conversation with Larissa started to run over like a film in my mind so I rushed to congratulate Toddington as he walked down from the podium.  He must have been a little taken aback when he saw me coming at him!

Toddington has been behind a number of pioneering green ventures most recently cofounding Belectric UK the UK arm of renowned solar developer and construction company BELECTRIC Group who has helped grow the company to become a major participant in the UK solar market.  Also he has launched the community-benefit solar energy finance company Big 60 Million.

I followed up our brief meeting a few days later with a telephone call to set up a tele con.  At the start of the tele con we quickly agreed that it would be best if we actually met in order to really appreciate what each of us had to say to one another.  I expressed an interest to learn more about the “green” movement as it affects our future.  As an observation many SMEs don’t have sustainability on the radar as they spend their energy focusing on making profit without a real care for social corporate responsibility (appreciated this doesn’t apply to all and it is improving).  It’s people like Toddington and the team at the Pea Awards that will help bring this issue to the fore.  

Toddington comes from a family of renewable energy entrepreneurs; he grew up in the Middle East with a television powered by solar energy and wind turbines.  Toddington says that the Big 60 Million is an initiative “born out of frustration and the realisation that people will welcome more solar energy if it directly benefits them as well as the planet.”  His vision is for all 60 million residents of every town and village in the UK to have the opportunity to harness the wide-ranging financial, environmental and social benefits of a local farm.

Big60Million’s concept is to develop, build and maintain best-in-class solar projects that offer wide-ranging benefits to communities – for instance the opportunity to buy Solar Bonds, which offer attractive interest rates, and own a stake in each solar farm.  Willersey Solar Farm is a 3.8MWp project that now produces enough energy for over 1,100 typical houses – or for those with electric vehicles to drive over 18 million kilometres per year.

I look forward to my meeting with Toddington in the near future to learn more about this innovative entrepreneur who will I’m sure help and inspire me in my journey to promote ethical, effective, entrepreneurship.

All the best

Selchouk Sami

P.S. if you are a social entrepreneur please connect and share your story.