Glasgow-based social enterprise MAKLab and was another of the inspiring guest speakers at the August (2014) Mash Up:
“I’m an architect but gave it up to co-found MAKLab two years ago. We’re a social enterprise and the idea was to give people just starting up a business in the creative/making sectors, affordable access to equipment and technologies which would otherwise be too expensive for them to buy. We can also provide knowledge and skills support to help them take their ideas forward. We are enablers and try to tease out of people who come to us with an idea, what it is they want to achieve.
“Sometimes we get involved in projects where we really don’t know what the outcome is going to be.”
“Social empowerment is our underlying agenda and we do a lot of outreach work with groups of people who have been deemed ‘unemployable’ although that’s an expression I hate.
We outgrew our first premises within eight months and negotiated an affordable rent for our current space. We also have two railways arches where the focus is on more traditional ‘making’ skills.”
More info at: www.maklab.co.uk
