I imagine she'd be dealing with orgainsations who support young people - some of these might be charities, some not. for instance, she lists the following as potential clients - I would think there's plenty of earning potential amongst these:

Youth organisations, Youth business organisations, Local Authorities, Job Centres and Career Advising bodies, Government departments, Corporates, Schools, Prisons, Women encouraging organisations, Ethnic minority projects,
Muslim organisations, United Nations bodies, Individual and Sporting teams, Cultural organisations.

It's a very difficult climate in this area for anyone right now - a lot of the old contracts have dried up.

But say for instance Barnardos want to get their staff trained in Communication or Project Management or Personal Development etc. Presumably they use professional, profit-making consultancies to provide this?

The small charities would generally not be able to afford this, and rely heavily on pro-bono work.

Fair enough, as I said, I doubt she's earning a fortune but if she's earning her living and providing a good service for which there's demand, then good luck to her, that's more than many of us can say these days.

But Government agencies and departments might make up for the shortfall elsewhere - at least until all the Tory cuts kick in? She seems to mention the British Council a lot in her work, a lot of which seems to be based abroad. Don't know too much about this organisation and what they do/fund.

The British Council invested a lot in the EducationUK brand under the impetus of the Prime Minister's Initiative to raise the international profile of education here and attract overseas students - she might have taken some funding from that although I'm not sure how her work would directly relate. Regardless the fundings gone now.

Lot's of schools (particularly private schools) have these kind of wider education/environment/political opportunities where kids go to conferences around the world. Basically a way of broadening your horizons, respecting other cultures, education, growing up and getting skills for life (& your cv). There are also youth parliaments, delegations and overseas projects you can join in if you are looking!

Many young people have briefly met important political people it's just usually you have that experience and then get on with your life.

a few examples:
http://www.roundsquare.org/
http://www.uwc.org/
http://www.cisv.org/
http://www.damaris.org/schools/conferences
http://www.ukyouthparliament.org.uk/
http://www.projects-abroad.org/
http://www.unyouth.com

I guess Melody has really grabbed every opportunity that was put in front of her (and sought them out) and then moved into providing services in this sector. e.g. speaking at this conferences, organising events/projects. I'm sure it can be profitable as either government/charities will pay her to work for underprivileged children, and children from well off families will pay to send their children for these experiences. There is also a lot of money available to promote the climate change message.

Essentially what she does is education of young people, no harm in charging for it. Plenty of private schools and other organisations do, doesn't have to be not for profit.

A lot of the apprentice type tasks have been won on appealing 'to the kids' (or to the parents wallets at least) so perhaps she is onto something.

You seem to be discribing a very priviledged senario for wealthy children. How does this fit in with Melody's social enterprise claims. I don't think you can marry to two together.
I do think this is just the type of thing she has been involved in though. This might be why she has such difficulty telling the nation exactly what she does.

So her business is to give talks/seminars to kids? And she claims to have started her business at 13? I'm confused...

it is social enterprise because she is helping shape the minds of young people and generally encouraging them to be charitable/environmental/international all round good people.

She hasn't claimed to do charitable work once, so I do think she works at the "privileged" as you say, end of the spectrum.

Whilst it is easy to criticise her for not doing more charitable work or volunteering her services for free to help underprivileged kids, if she is going to be a businesswomen and make money then there are certainly worse things she could be doing!


I imagine she can say she has been doing this for 13 years is because that is when she was first involved in a youth conference and perhaps she gave a speech then (it is normal for the kids to give a presentation), if she continued to be involved and helped organise future conferences then that is how she has been in her sector for 13 years. I doubt very much she has been employed in the sector for 13 years.

Melody with Desmond Tutu:
http://inspirengage.com/peacejam-gat...s-angeles-2008

Melody with Al Gore:
http://inspirengage.com/al-gore-reunion-2009


she seems to have worked once with female prisoners, so at least once her clientele weren't wealthy kids.

http://inspirengage.com/leadership-t...ll-prison-2009

This seems to be a well quoted definition of Social Enterprise
and I apologise if you have seen my previous posting using this but:


As I said, I'm struggling to see how Melody and her company fit into this definition

What part of that definition would you say she doesn't fit in with?

She is contributing to society by working with young people,
she is generating her own profits through her work and not relying on charitable donations. We don't know that she isn't reinvesting her profits in her business, so can't comment on that aspect.We know she doesn't have any investors or shareholders that she has to provide an income to.

She is working with young people for profit? Hardly Jamie Oliver. 15 makes no profit, it is all ploughed back in to the business for future young people from difficult backgrounds to be trained.
I would not expect anyone to rely on charitable donations. I would expect her to give her services for free if she was working for a financially pressed charity.
We could all give ourselves the title of social enterprises if we applied Melody's logic. She runs a business for profit not for the good of the community.

Didn't somebody already explain this to you on a different thread?

Does she? I didn't think we knew anything about how much profit her company makes and what she does with that profit.

If she was running a company for profit alone, why bother with the educating kids bit. As many on here have pointed out it is difficult to make money doing that. I think Melody is full of hyperbole and talks up her achievements but I do think that she believes in what she is doing and thinks she is making a difference.

If you don't believe that and think she is keeping all the profits then I can't argue with that as I don't see how we can prove it either way.

OP is one of the bitterest people I've ever seen. Still smarting because she didn't reply to your precious little email?

What's wrong with that?

One of my colleagues has had many years experience of training young people, starting at the age of 15 specifically to sport, then on to a new job that required him to deliver training sessions for many different people... - cos he's young, he gets across to young people a whole lot easier and on their level.... he's a a very successful young man and has just started up his own business .... training many different people across such a wide range of areas...he has many facilitators who work for him and has grown his business extremely well... Guess what - he's 25... I can't stress enough how good he is at his job.... I just wish more people could benefit from his work..... but his business is for profit, but works with the community and voluntary sector...or third sector...as a support agency.... I admire him, think he's done a top job at such a young age, really developed himself and others...

That's a bit silly - if every business was to give their services to charities for free then dear help the third sector cos it wouldn't survive....I work for a for-profit business that provides services to not-for-profit charities, organisations and groups.... we do it at reduced rates, but still, it makes a profit and these charities are willing to pay for it... infact our company has grown soo much over these past few years with the economic downturn, charities aren't able to rely on government and funding programmes any longer and so seek businesses like ourselves to provide that professional help..... it comes down to the type of people on the boards of these charities and what their goals are...have a read on the internet....there's so much to learn about the sector..

Melody was interviewed on 5Live on Thursday morning and she said her company had never paid her a salary. As usual she was very vague about what it does do, but it's clearly not profit making. It sounds more like volunteer work to me. She may be very good at inspiring young people, but it's not a business of the type Sugar would recognise..

She said she was now working with other people, so presumably it had been just her running courses.by herself. A one woman operation. All of this is very praiseworthy effort and may do a lot of good, but it rather goes against her portrayal of it as a global business. It was global in the sense that she was willing to provide her motivational services internationally. But it wasn't a business. Maybe post-Apprentice it might become one, who knows?


So it isn't really a libellous comment then. There's at least some truth in it. I think she lied in the boardroom, thinking Sugar would think less of her if he thought her business was non-profit making volunteer work. In such situations honesty is the best policy, she'd not lose any status by saying it was voluntary work. It still takes enterprise to do what she's done.

It may not be her family, but someone must be sponsoring her if her company isn't paying a salary.

Thank you - I do enjoy reading your posts because you always try to be objective and informative at the same time

What you've said makes a lot of sense.

I get the impression Melody was using all her accalades to divert attention away from the true nature of her enterprise. She should just have been honest - that this was a relatively small-scale venture, that wasn't making a profit, but which she was passionate about and had potential with some investment and an experienced partner. I think Sugar would have respected that more than all her fancy certificates which are pretty meaningless really.

Thank you for this. I too thought that her vagueness was covering up for dishonesty (she was also arrogant to think this wouldn't be questioned). She was hiding behind popular buzz words like "Social Enterprize" to mask what she did. There is nothing wrong with working for yourself and not taking a salary (if you can afford it or have other means of support) but if in the end you can't make any money out of it then it is not really a business, more like an expensive hobby.

This thread sums up what I feel: Its not a business its a "sponsored" hobby.

As I said in one of the previous posts, this has nothing to do with the e-mail. Or am I not allowed to ask a legitimate question about the nature of her enterprise?