• What does it do? Monkey Park CIC in Brampton, Chesterfield is a diverse hub, run by and for the local community – providing a home to a bike project, café, and work-space.  It provides jobs, friendships, training, qualifications and improved mental wellbeing to a community in transition.
• Traded Income pre and post programme: £40,984 to £56,051
• Ratio of trading income to other income pre and post programme: 23% to 49% traded income (1:4 to 1:2 ratio)
• SSE programme: Community Business Trade Up Programme, in partnership with Power to Change. £10k Match Trading grant

If you combine cakes, bikes, jobs, sewing, yoga, book clubs, and a co-work-space, you’ve only scratched the surface of what Monkey Park offers its community.

Founder, Simon Redding describes Monkey Park as a “public living room” providing part-time jobs, volunteer opportunities, training and qualifications, as well as a place for friendship. Not only this, but it’s also helping to drive economic growth through its space for small businesses. The enterprise also employs local people, and regularly goes out to the wider community via fun days, an open-air theatre and an active Facebook page that has over 2,000 followers.

This diverse community hub in Brampton, Chesterfield has a business model that includes income from sales from its bike shop, café and rented workspace, with local authority contracts to cover the running costs. A successful Crowdfunder campaign covered the cost of renovating the building it occupies.

But still with this diverse range of income streams, Monkey Park was operating at a loss.

Then, founder Simon Redding took part in the Community Business Trade Up programme run by the School for Social Entrepreneurs, in partnership with Power to Change, and received a £10,000 Match Trading grant.

Impact on the business

Incentivised by the grant mechanism that pound-for-pound rewards any increases in trading income, Simon turned a negative cash-flow situation into a positive, sustainable income stream.  Taking part in the entrepreneurial learning programme gave Simon and his team the knowledge they needed around pricing, marketing and pitching for contracts. They introduced a tiered pricing system in the community café and increased the number of people using the centre by improving their marketing.  This has had a huge impact on long term income and financial sustainability.

They also diversified their offer to the community; introducing a makers corner, renting out the building, and focusing on alternative trading income.  Simon told us:

“We spoke to our customers, increased our prices in the café and even won a contract with the local authority to run community wellbeing courses.”

The Match Trading grant was hugely beneficial to Monkey Park;

“The grant probably saved us as an organisation, as it helped us be more resilient.”

Another benefit of the programme was the partnerships Simon created along the way. “We started to look at traded income in a different way. For example, we developed relationships with the organisations we rented out the building to, and they became our partners, rather than just customers, allowing us to do more for our community.”

Simon sums up the benefits: “The Community Business Trade Up programme and Match Trading grant combination allows you to try things as it’s unrestricted, and it gives you the education to enable you to do those things. Plus, the peer-to-peer support for when things don’t quite go to plan [was really helpful].”

Simon and the team worked hard to get the full Match Trading grant:

“We had to really stretch ourselves to get the full grant amount.  We’d had a few traditional grants before that; but this type of grant focused our efforts on trading income, and it comes with the education and support to help you achieve success in this area.  It helped us to not only survive but to thrive.”

Monkey Park is an exemplar of a resident-led, community business with influence amongst statutory providers.  It’s a founding member of the Chesterfield Cultural Educational Partnership and a member of the Chesterfield health and well-being board. Future plans include generating an income from the outdoor area they built during Covid and moving the bike workshop to a second site.  Monkey Park will also be facilitating a network of community hubs across the county.

Like a lot of businesses, Monkey Park is rebuilding to where they were before the pandemic.  They’ve just employed two apprentices they took on as part of the UK government’s Kickstarter scheme.  The increased costs of food, energy and bike parts are all adding to what is a challenging time.  Simon said, “We probably would have gone bust during Covid if we hadn’t been in such a strong position beforehand. Building up our trading income protected us in the long run and made us more adaptable to change.”

Along with gaining the business skills to grow turnover, Simon found the confidence to employ a part-time manager, enabling him to step back from day-to-day management, so he could take a more strategic position. He told us that the programme and peer support gave him the courage to make this tough decision.

Monkey Park achieved the £10,000 increase in income from trading, and therefore received the maximum £10,000 grant as a reward. This success is commendable and a huge boost, but Simon is positive that it is the business skills and support he received alongside the grant that will mean Monkey Park will be here for many years to come.

“The learning programme made us more resilient and helped us to grow our income from trading and profitability.”

Having a more sustainable financial model means that Monkey Park can focus on increasing its broad community impact. Brampton has a lot of social issues, and many locals live in poverty. Monkey Park’s tremendously broad range of activities and initiatives like donating bikes to refugee groups, ensure it’s touching all parts of the community.  “We’re building people up as humans.”

“The Match Trading grant turns funding on its head. It’s a real incentive as you can double your money.”