📍 Venue: SISTER – Renold Building, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR
How do we build a future where commercial success and community impact go hand in hand?
"Social value" is no longer just a corporate social responsibility checkbox - it is a powerful driver of funding, procurement, and cross-sector partnerships. As an ecosystem activator and neutral convener, Venture Café invites you to look beyond profit and explore how intentional innovation can solve some of society's most pressing challenges.
Whether you are navigating strict procurement requirements or looking to scale a mission-driven startup, this event is designed to break down silos, spark actionable collaboration across industries, and drive meaningful community impact across Greater Manchester and beyond.
Sponsored by Open Kitchen
Community Partners: Social Founder Network and GM Business Growth Hub
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Our Thursday Gatherings are for you to make serendipitous connections and make things happen! Step into a space where every conversation could spark something new. Enjoy music, refreshments, and a lively atmosphere designed to bring people together, whether you’re exchanging ideas, discovering collaborators, or simply sharing a laugh. This is the perfect moment to unwind, connect, and let serendipity guide your evening.
My Manchester x Future Fund: Young Manchester is a youth-led partnership of 160+ local non-profit organisations working to create more opportunities for children and young people across Manchester. Projects in focus:
💡 Future Fund: A paid opportunity for 20 young people to help decide how £20 million should be invested across Manchester over 8-10 months. Participants will gain financial skills, experience and a platform to influence decisions that affect their communities.
🗣️ My Manchester Listening Campaign: A Manchester City Council commissioned campaign gathering the experiences, views and aspirations of young people and young adults across the city. The 5-7 minute survey is aimed at ages 18-25, with responses welcomed from 17-30 year olds. Participants can also share more through an optional interview.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
Through our weekly Thursday Gatherings, founders, researchers, investors and innovators come together to share ideas, explore new technologies and build meaningful connections. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Manchester is creating a central hub for the city’s innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
💬 Connect with us on LinkedIn
📩 Sign up for our weekly newsletter
Join our Lightning Pitch session where you’ve got just 60 seconds to introduce yourself and share your business or idea with the room. It’s fast, fun, and a brilliant way to meet fellow founders, spark conversations and get your idea out into the Manchester startup community.
Open Kitchen is redefining sustainable, ethical catering in Greater Manchester. They craft incredible food using ingredients from local, ethical, independent producers - alongside beautiful food stopped from going to waste.
Can commercial success and community impact truly go hand in hand?
Today, social value is much more than a compliance checkbox or a corporate social responsibility metric - it is an engine for a changing society. Prioritizing social value unlocks new funding streams, wins lucrative procurement bids, and builds resilient cross-sector partnerships. But moving from intent to execution comes with real-world hurdles.
In this panel discussion, industry leaders, innovators, and ecosystem builders will explore the challenges and opportunities of embedding social value into the DNA of projects, organisations and businesses.
Ready to communicate with greater confidence, strengthen your executive presence and make a bigger impact at work? Whether you’re early in your career or an experienced professional, this interactive workshop will give you practical tools to help you show up with greater confidence and credibility.
Through practical exercises, self-reflection and group discussion, you’ll explore what might be holding you back, build genuine confidence from the inside out, and discover ways to communicate with greater influence that you can apply immediately in the workplace.
What you’ll take away:
- A clearer understanding of what executive presence looks like in practice.
- Greater confidence in how you communicate and show up professionally.
- Practical tools to communicate with more confidence, credibility and influence.
📍 Venue: SISTER – Renold Building, 32a Altrincham Street, Manchester, M1 7JR
How do we build a future where commercial success and community impact go hand in hand?
"Social value" is no longer just a corporate social responsibility checkbox - it is a powerful driver of funding, procurement, and cross-sector partnerships. As an ecosystem activator and neutral convener, Venture Café invites you to look beyond profit and explore how intentional innovation can solve some of society's most pressing challenges.
Whether you are navigating strict procurement requirements or looking to scale a mission-driven startup, this event is designed to break down silos, spark actionable collaboration across industries, and drive meaningful community impact across Greater Manchester and beyond.
Sponsored by Open Kitchen
Community Partners: Social Founder Network and GM Business Growth Hub
Powered by Advanced Research + Invention Agency
Our Thursday Gatherings are for you to make serendipitous connections and make things happen! Step into a space where every conversation could spark something new. Enjoy music, refreshments, and a lively atmosphere designed to bring people together, whether you’re exchanging ideas, discovering collaborators, or simply sharing a laugh. This is the perfect moment to unwind, connect, and let serendipity guide your evening.
My Manchester x Future Fund: Young Manchester is a youth-led partnership of 160+ local non-profit organisations working to create more opportunities for children and young people across Manchester. Projects in focus:
💡 Future Fund: A paid opportunity for 20 young people to help decide how £20 million should be invested across Manchester over 8-10 months. Participants will gain financial skills, experience and a platform to influence decisions that affect their communities.
🗣️ My Manchester Listening Campaign: A Manchester City Council commissioned campaign gathering the experiences, views and aspirations of young people and young adults across the city. The 5-7 minute survey is aimed at ages 18-25, with responses welcomed from 17-30 year olds. Participants can also share more through an optional interview.
Venture Café is a global movement built on a simple but powerful belief: isolation is the enemy of innovation.
Through our weekly Thursday Gatherings, founders, researchers, investors and innovators come together to share ideas, explore new technologies and build meaningful connections. As ecosystem activators, Venture Café Manchester is creating a central hub for the city’s innovation ecosystem, driving visibility, collaboration and community.
And if you’d like to get more involved with Venture Café, there are plenty of ways to join our network:
🤝 Become a partner
🎤 Speak at an upcoming Thursday Gathering
🙌 Join our ambassador team
💬 Connect with us on LinkedIn
📩 Sign up for our weekly newsletter
Join our Lightning Pitch session where you’ve got just 60 seconds to introduce yourself and share your business or idea with the room. It’s fast, fun, and a brilliant way to meet fellow founders, spark conversations and get your idea out into the Manchester startup community.
Open Kitchen is redefining sustainable, ethical catering in Greater Manchester. They craft incredible food using ingredients from local, ethical, independent producers - alongside beautiful food stopped from going to waste.
Can commercial success and community impact truly go hand in hand?
Today, social value is much more than a compliance checkbox or a corporate social responsibility metric - it is an engine for a changing society. Prioritizing social value unlocks new funding streams, wins lucrative procurement bids, and builds resilient cross-sector partnerships. But moving from intent to execution comes with real-world hurdles.
In this panel discussion, industry leaders, innovators, and ecosystem builders will explore the challenges and opportunities of embedding social value into the DNA of projects, organisations and businesses.
Ready to communicate with greater confidence, strengthen your executive presence and make a bigger impact at work? Whether you’re early in your career or an experienced professional, this interactive workshop will give you practical tools to help you show up with greater confidence and credibility.
Through practical exercises, self-reflection and group discussion, you’ll explore what might be holding you back, build genuine confidence from the inside out, and discover ways to communicate with greater influence that you can apply immediately in the workplace.
What you’ll take away:
- A clearer understanding of what executive presence looks like in practice.
- Greater confidence in how you communicate and show up professionally.
- Practical tools to communicate with more confidence, credibility and influence.