Alice has always been fascinated by the power of creating something from scratch. It involves creativity, dedication and precision. Finding the feeling of completing a piece and seeing someone else wear it truly gratifying, Alice wanted to share this feeling with the people she was working with at a North London hostel. At the same time, she wanted to see if she could create a business that supports vulnerable people whilst also creating something beautiful that people wanted to buy.

Pivot’s mission is to bring meaningful and flexible employment to those who might otherwise not have access to it, and in doing so giving them the confidence and skills they need to take steps away from temporary accommodation.

It is a social enterprise that teaches people experiencing homelessness to design, make and sell jewellery and homeware, whilst providing coaching and financial support. The team also helps other services to set up their own programmes and run ad-hoc training sessions with homelessness services.

Their social mission is funded by selling the jewellery and homeware made on their programmes, with 80% of their revenue coming from traded income in their first year.

DBACE Winner