In his new role at youth led development agency Restless Development, Jim Sewell, former Sales and Marketing Director at Alternative Networks, hopes to recruit telecoms champions for an 'Entrepreneur Panel' to support fledgling enterprises in the developing world.
The fact that Sewell is now working round the corner from where he helped established one of the UK's most successful reseller companies is purely coincidental but ironical all the same. For Sewell, going 'full circle' has two connotations, not only the geographical location of the Restless Development charity in Waterloo, London where he now spends a lot of his days, but also his long association with the organisation that goes back over 25 years. For it was after leaving Radley College at 18 and before meeting up with Alternative Networks founder James Murray, that Sewell taught English, history and maths for nine months in a rural school in Zimbabwe with an organisation called Student Partnerships Worldwide, which is now Restless Development.
Sewell, now 44 and married with three children, describes that early experience as extremely formative and one that also gave him a love of Africa, and a great respect for the people there. After Zimbabwe he returned to the UK to 'study' geography at Manchester University and, on finishing there in 1993, spent a year buying and selling products from auctions in Manchester and selling them to students. "It was way before you could do this through eBay," recalled Sewell. "So I used to advertise in LOOT. We were the only student house with five microwaves and endless stereos and the odd very second hand car outside!
"I had known James Murray since we were 18 and in 1994 he explained his plans to start Alternative Networks and in October 1994 I joined as a start up alongside James, Chris Wilson and Ben Marnham. Nearly 20 years at Alternative was enormous fun, extremely hard work, and a constant learning experience working and playing with a great team of people. With the rate of change in our sector it's also been a constant challenge to keep up with the technology and which products and suppliers to work with. Alternative Networks is now an amazing, multi-faceted business and one I'm very proud to have been part of growing."
Jim had kept in touch with Restless Development and been inspired by the work they do. As Alternative Networks grew and diversified, so did Restless Development and Sewell became a Trustee in 2008. Hence, when his time at Alternative drew to a satisfactory close on both a financial and personal level, Sewell was free to put something back into the charity that set him on the path to success. "Over the last few years it has been my ambition to have more time to work on the Restless side and help set up and run some new fund raising projects, as well as having more time with the family and to do more fund raising events," he said.
Sewell cycled from John O'Groats to Lands' End with a team from Alternative in 2012 and has completed sections of the Tour De Force, which cycles the route of the main Tour de France the week before the professionals for charity. Of the livelihood projects Restless run he chose the Restless Hub concept in Tanzania and plans to visit this annually and meet some of those who use the hub.
"It is vital that local entrepreneurs in Tanzania, and other countries, have access to a central hub where they can receive training, use IT facilities, share ideas, debate successes and failures and receive small amounts of financial support where required," said Sewell. "This is no different to what we need in the UK and I completely understand the benefit and need these fulfil. I also love the concept of donating with groups of friends and visiting the projects together, as this is an experience that you simply do not get in your normal life, and is also a good excuse for a trip abroad each year with mates that is hard for the other half to turn down!"
Restless Development launched the Entrepreneur Panel concept at the House of Lords in February. It aims to bring successful entrepreneurs together and get them closer to Restless Development's work by providing financial assistance and expertise to young entrepreneurs in Africa and South Asia. "There is a natural entrepreneurial spirit in Africa as people find ways to earn a living," added Sewell. "With the right training, very small amounts of financial support and access to IT, we can make a huge difference to not just individuals but whole communities.
"We are looking to fund a wide variety of livelihood programmes, from entrepreneurship training programmes to internship schemes, and we can provide detailed costings for each project so that supporters get a sense of how many businesses and people their donations will support. Restless has 30 years experience working in these communities and understands how to deliver successful entrepreneurship programmes. The charity is run very much like a business, with money carefully invested and programmes monitored in extreme detail."
Sewell wants to launch the Entrepreneur Panel concept into the comms industry by bringing successful charity minded business leaders from the channel round a table to share thoughts, set targets and conceive events to raise funds. "I really believe that companies want to work closely with charities but often find it hard to know how, unless someone internally has a specific passion," he added. "It's important for entrepreneurs and businesses to get something back and to be able to see first-hand the work that they support.
"Engaging in charitable activities improves staff motivation, retention and workplace culture and also helps businesses to live their own values. Alternative Networks, like so many other resellers, are all about the people who work there and bringing staff together is always of huge benefit which can be delivered incredibly successfully with charity at the centre of things.
"If we could embrace this as a sector then we could make a massive difference as a group. The drive and values of people at the core of Restless Development is awe-inspiring, often in very difficult scenarios, and is something we could all learn from and help all our businesses become stronger and more successful."
Restless Development has a strong track record of corporate engagement and won six awards in 2014, including the Charity Times Award for Corporate Social Responsibility Project of the Year for its successful partnership with KPMG.
For more details email jim.sewell3@gmail.com or ella@restlessdevelopment.org