Head of Enterprise Michael Gladwell was delighted to receive the Rising Star Award from Marketing Derby last Friday, which celebrates the innovation of new businesses amongst Derby’s thriving business community. Michael shares what the Award means for the future of Upbeat Clean.

Why did Upbeat Clean begin?

Upbeat Clean was born out of Upbeat Communities – which has been supporting people seeking refuge since 2005. As an organisation, we were profoundly aware of the challenges for refugee women to make their first steps into employment in the UK. These are brave and tenacious women, like those arriving with their children from Ukraine over the last year, who despite the incredible adversity they have faced, are eager to work hard, support their families and contribute to the society which they now call home.

We wanted to provide that first step into employment for these resilient women by partnering with companies through commercial cleaning. Our vision is that three years from now, there will be no refugee women without a job or access to great workplace training in Derby.

As a social enterprise, Upbeat Clean not only provides employment for these women, but also funds some of the work of Upbeat Communities. We’re not just your standard cleaning company.

What does Upbeat Clean look like now, 2 years in?

We currently partner with 23 organisations across Derby from cleaning offices like Althaus and Derby County Community Trust to cleaning larger venues such as QUAD and Deda, providing over 20 refugee women with employment and training in our first two years.

These four Marketing Derby Partners are a great example of the impact of partnering together. Because of these companies joining with us to transform lives, 14 refugee women and two survivors of modern day slavery have found life-giving work, and have been able to financially support their families in a way that they couldn't have imagined doing before.

In monetary terms, partnerships with these four large Marketing Derby companies will lead to tens of thousands of pounds of earnings going into the family homes of these women this next year.

How can others help?

We would love to have conversations with companies that want to have a social impact in Derby to see what creative solutions we can come up with to change lives together. If companies have their offices or venues cleaned we would love to talk about partnering together in the future to provide that service for them. For companies that don’t have a need in that area, there’s also an opportunity to partner with our main charity arm through volunteering and fundraising to benefit your organisation’s social aims.

What does the Rising Star Award mean for Upbeat Clean?

We’re excited about how the award will spread the news across the city so that other companies will be able to see the win-win partnership they can enter into. We also love that the award will strengthen the reputation of refugees in the city as some of the best workers in the city.

What does it mean to you?

For me, one of the most impactful things is the business community recognising that this social enterprise is one of the most innovative and creative businesses in Derby.

It’s celebrating the hard work of refugee women, showing a powerful and empowered image of their work instead of seeing them as needy and vulnerable. Actually, they are award-winning cleaners!

Michael Gladwell — Head of Enterprise

Inspired? We’d love to chat to you about how your business can partner with Upbeat Clean. Email hello@upbeatclean.co.uk today or head to upbeatclean.co.uk to find out more.

Upbeat Clean Proudly Receives the Marketing Derby ‘Rising Star’ Award