Why I started Social Nexus

I didn't start my career planning to launch a business. But sometimes you witness something that stays with you, something that makes it impossible to look the other way.

Recently, I found myself standing in front of headteachers, SENCOs, and education leaders

conferences dedicated to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. I wanted to have meaningful change to the agenda that I cared about deeply.

The gap nobody was talking about

Teacher after teacher, school leader after school leader, told the same story. Children who needed specialist support weren't getting it. Families were falling through gaps in provision. Schools were doing everything they could with what they had, but what they had wasn't enough.

The funding simply wasn't there.

Not for the teaching assistants who could make the difference between a child thriving or struggling. Not for the sensory equipment that helps a child with autism feel safe enough to learn. Not for the speech and language therapy that could unlock a child's ability to communicate. Not for the training that would help mainstream teachers understand and support the children in their classrooms.

The need was enormous. The resources were not.

I left those conferences frustrated. Not at the people in the room, they were working incredibly hard with everything available to them. I was frustrated because I could see that the resources were not coordinated to end up where they needed to be.

I realised that businesses where giving and wanted to support their communities, but the giving was scattered and seemingly short term.

And that started me thinking, what if someone connected businesses and community via sustainable partnerships?

That's why Social Nexus exists

Social Nexus was built on a simple but powerful idea. That businesses in our communities have the resources to create real, lasting change. That the causes around us SEND, homelessness, mental health, food poverty, and more need sustained, strategic investment, not scattered donations.