Feature Jelly South West CIC

Jelly South West CIC

South West Jelly CIC continues virtually during coronavirus pandemic.

All kinds of small East Devon businesses have benefitted from taking part in Jellys, where they have a chance to join others, discuss their ideas, gain support and advice.

Jellys are informal co-working community events where pre-starts, start-ups, freelancers, homeworkers and small/micro business owners bring their laptops and work, chat and collaborate with other small business owners.

Co-working means meeting up with like-minded people to work together in a different environment, to exchange help and advice, and maybe come up with a new idea to collaborate on. At most Jelly South West events there is a free workshop or speaker and often collaboration with other like minded groups or CICs (community interest companies).

Louise Turley, Jelly South West CIC, explains:

Jellys differ from networking in that the aim is not to ultimately to find new clients or to just sell yourself or your business. The Jellys help build a cohesive local economy in a soft informal manner, especially in rural areas within Devon where there is a strong number of small/micro businesses who work from home. The Jellys offer a community support group structure and the ethos of Jelly is to be accessible to all.

Jelly South West CIC was born from just one Jelly in Honiton every month 3 years ago. Over time, Jelly South West has grown to meet demand at now 7 different places every month.

With the Covid 19 crisis, the in-person Jellys had to stop. I was quick to act and cancel the events throughout Devon. I decided to shift them to a virtual platform and the Virtual Jelly was born. Once a week, on a Wednesday at 1pm we ‘zoom’ in, with a speaker each week offering help and advice. I have continued to offer support, with anyone able to contact me directly for advice or their mental well-being.

The response to the virtual Jellys has been fantastic with much positivity. We've gained a new audience who are grateful for the informal weekly check in. It's a place to chat and remove the isolation factor that people feel working from home even with children running around them. It has become a place of support for many. I send out weekly newsletters about the Jellys and up to date information regarding help available from various sources.

Personally I enjoy the Jellys as much everyone else -- it helps me to remain focussed and continue to support the businesses I have built a relationship with over the years, whilst increasing my knowledge from the weekly talks.