Blué O'Connor, Executive MSc Social Business and Entrepreneurship Student
None of my family or my parents went to university, it wasn’t really part of the conversation during my childhood. I was lucky the first time around to go to university as part of an apprenticeship scheme, but as I got older, I really wanted to come back and do something that I was passionate about.
Catching the social impact bug
After spending a decade in the Aerospace industry as an engineer, Blué decided to redirect his career towards social impact. This led him to work in the voluntary, charity and social enterprise sectors where he has dedicated the last seven years to making a difference to a variety of stakeholders.
His social impact journey started when Blué launched a social enterprise and charity, was appointed to the board of a community-based charity, volunteered as a youth mentor and became part of the growing social economy. His passion for social entrepreneurship has continued to grow ever since.
Finding his passion
Blué wanted to join the EMSBE programme to connect with other champions of social business to learn, collaborate, grow and foster new shared ideas.
“The scholarship was an amazing thing to be offered…it is a privilege to be at a university that I wouldn’t have dreamt of coming to at a young age. This course is supporting me to become a better mentor and enables me to transfer the knowledge I gain to young social entrepreneurs and people in my community.”
Making his impact
Blué’s overall motivation is to directly improve the current social enterprises he is involved in by widening his network, skillset and knowledge base, in addition to exploring new transformative solutions to other social issues he is passionate about.
“Data shows that the poor mental health of young people is a rising problem across the Western world. It is something I’m passionate about and currently working on. There is a lot more that can be done and solutions that need to be brought to the market to respond to an ever-changing landscape of challenges for young people.”
Bristol, UK | British | Head of Entrepreneurship, The School of Social Entrepreneurs