Author Archives: Sarah Dunwell

About Sarah Dunwell

Sarah Dunwell is executive director of Arena Partners and has twenty years experience in the corporate and business sector. After a number of senior roles in customer service and retail management, Sarah led her own successful catering business and is experienced in business turn around and SME growth. Sarah has a particular interest in the role of robust business planning and development in the not-for-profit sector. Her passion lies in seeing social businesses grow successfully and sustainably through creating mature businesses that deliver strong social agendas.

Waste and the busyness of business

Looking back, I have been an ‘entrepreneur’ for years. People have also called me a business woman, leader, mum-preneur (oh, how I hate that word!) and intra-preneur (whatever the hell that is!) but mostly people have called me an entrepreneur and, more recently, a social entrepreneur. Continue reading

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My Fair Lady and Grayson Perry

It would be shame if, in the writing of lots of PR-spun policies and reports, the general public became cynical (imagine that!) and suspected that all your organisation was really into was maximising profits and using smoke and mirrors to make that look more acceptable… Continue reading

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What’s in a name?

I spend my time looking at social challenges and trying to find innovative, entrepreneurial paths through them. At the moment I am spending a lot of time thinking about food, its supply and production, the oversupply in the food chain and the people experiencing food poverty… Continue reading

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Shared value is not for the tight fisted

o, here is the question I am still wrestling with. Is it only charities and social enterprises which can claim the monopoly on positive impact? Continue reading

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Mr Jung and me shopping at 2 am

The eminent Swiss psychologist Carl Jung said that in most patients over forty, the majority of problems were caused by worries about the past and fear about the future. Well, although I would hate to admit it, I am over forty. Not much obviously, just a little, so I think I should take note of Mr Jung’s warning. Continue reading

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In the Arena

I have to say that I am usually a pretty up-beat and positive person. As a team we discipline ourselves to use positive word sets, to speak as optimistically as we can in any situation in order to build that … Continue reading

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My Tipping Point

I have never been a big fan of the cult of the social entrepreneur, the idea that we inspire and initiate great ideas or change by putting all our collective resources into identifying (or worse still, creating) individual leaders who … Continue reading

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Going for gold…

There are times at which I feel as though I am seeing the world through different spectacles to everyone else, when the whole of the rest of society is in one camp and I’m in another and today is absolutely … Continue reading

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While Rome burns, pitch for the rebuilding work…

Now far be it from me to use my blog to let off a little steam or pick a fight.  Far be it from me to pick a fight with Liam Black, especially seeing as we’re having lunch in Leeds … Continue reading

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Firm Foundations?

I, like everyone else, have spent much of the last few days thinking about the earthquake in Japan.  We don’t know yet what the full extent of this tragedy will be and there are, even now, new stories unfolding which … Continue reading

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