Social Innovation
Meet the Tottenham entrepreneurs giving back to the local community
From socially conscious start ups to the club promoters campaigning for mental health charities, these are the business people out to make Tottenham a better place.
Tottenham is fast becoming the area on everyone’s lips, from its selection of underground DIY venues and raves to the diverse mix of people that make up this North London hub. Here, community is key. Across its many vibrant industries – nightlife, music, clothing, to name a few – are locals who are using creativity to connect with and support others in the local area.
As a part of Red Bull’s Neighbourhood event, we chat to six Tottenham entrepreneurs about why they do business in the area and what makes it such a special place.
Haylee Venus – Social Entrepreneur
Haylee Venus
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I’m a social entrepreneur from Tottenham and everything I do is about the people. Day-to-day, I’m an event producer for my various events including my Tottenham-based fashion show Inspiring Edge and poetry night, Spoken. The latter I run in collaboration with The Selby Centre, Tottenham. The night is an open and non-judgemental space for young people to come and express themselves through spoken word, dub poetry and acoustic music. As well as providing a platform for young people to perform, the events also help them gain confidence and work experience opportunities.
Creativity is something that we can all connect with.
Alongside events I also run a community interest company called Make A Step. We are a UK based volunteer programme that delivers creative arts, sports and fashion workshops for 5-16 year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds in Tottenham, Kenya, Jamaica, Gambia and St Lucia. We provide life skills training via activities using the arts as a vehicle. Creativity is something that we can all connect with. Everything you see, breathe and touch, it’s all created – it once was an idea. We use that analogy to encourage personal growth.
I couldn’t do anything without the community of people I work with in Tottenham, and if I wasn’t a social entrepreneur my job title would be ‘risk taker’. I just like to serve people through my gifts, and my visions – my strength comes from giving.
Mary Otumahana – Director of RecordShop
Mary Otumahana
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The RecordShop is a free not-for-profit recording studio programme based in the Enterprise Centre, Tottenham High Road. We run weekly recording sessions and workshops for 16-25 year olds. All of the young people are at different stages in their career but they are all passionate and willing to learn.
Tottenham is the perfect place for this project, it’s vibrant, there’s a nice close-knit community and there is always something going on. It’s a place close to my heart. Being able to it do this in Tottenham is something that I have dreamed about since I was a kid. And, since I set up The RecordShop, it’s been received so well. I’ve been featured in local newspapers and had the chance to meet so many young people that are passionate and interested in music. This has played such a key role in allowing me to grow as an artist and take The RecordShop further.
When I’m not performing under my WondRWomN moniker I dedicate all of my time to The RecordShop with the help from a group of volunteers who are passionate about music.
Eugene Wild and Stuart Glen – The Cause
Stuart Glen
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The Cause’s ethos is about fighting the good fight for grassroots independent music venues. With our warehouse we’re filling the gap and helping start conversations around independent venues that give back to the local community. We want to use dance music as positive and creative force.
Being in Tottenham means we can be truly independent.
We love throwing parties and we're always looking at ways of hosting promoters and nights that give something back. Doing it in a more responsible way like working with MIND Haringey in order to create a bit of a legacy so we can go to other developers and use this as a template.
Being in Tottenham means we can be truly independent. There’s a lot of small, cool and unique things happening. It feels like it’s on the cusp at the moment and it's a nice vibe waiting for it to pop. It feels fertile and people are interested and happy to work together. At the moment we work closely with our neighbours Grow – the community garden project – and we're working towards opening up the space to host DJ/producer lessons and an after school club.
Rob Burn – Director and Owner of Ten 87 Studios
Rob Burn
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Ten 87 is a recording studio complex in Tottenham with 44 studios. We host a range of people from local techno producer Randomer to PC Music artists and SBTRKT. We have been at this spot for nearly five years and it was birthed by a need for quality studio space. I found it near impossible to rent a space that suited my needs at a reasonable price and Tottenham was the answer.
Collaboration is at the heart of what we do at Ten 87, we encourage producers to do studio shares and facilitate the space for artists to work together. We’re also super excited to be working with Mary Otumahana from RecordShop. We have been donating studio time to the programme and are hoping to work out a long-term project with the RecordShop family.
Since we arrived in 2014 Tottenham has changed a lot and for music producers and lovers it has everything you need. It’s pretty diverse and there are some great venues and clubs, it also has some amazing restaurants, food shops and community centres. I didn’t grow up here but I definitely feel like I’m becoming part of the community now and I really love everything that Tottenham has to offer.
Luis Lopez-Smith – founder of Tottenham Textiles
Luis Lopez-Smith
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I’m a big Tottenham fan; the history, the people, the culture and the team – that’s why it’s the business name! It’s a really exciting place to be. I’d always had the idea of setting up a studio here, and then three years ago the space came up and I just went for it. Tottenham Textiles got quite a name for being a go-to sportswear atelier studio, where we sample products for small independent clients and work on activations for brands like Nike. The plan was always to launch the in-house brand Tottex so we can create our own product, and then move into a bigger studio and upgrade our machinery and tooling. And big part of this upgrade is about expanding on our team so we can actually do more teaching and employ more of the local talent in Tottenham.
It’s nice to be part of the local area in a positive way.
Having worked in fashion where it’s hard to get into or access information, I wanted to have an open-door policy where people can walk in, access our services and talk to us. We work on youth projects quite closely, and we do mentoring on a referral basis where we try to help young people get there own brands going. There’s not a lot supporting young people from deprived areas in and around Tottenham, but there is so much talent and it’s either the music or clothing avenues that they go for, so we’re partnering with a lot of good people on really building a framework and support network for this.
It’s great – whenever we do an event in Tottenham like the Tottex launch or a workshop, loads of people come through that we’ve either helped or just given advice to. It’s nice to be part of the local area in a positive way.
Felix Mortimer – co-owner STYX
Felix Mortimer STYX
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Josh Nawras and I founded STYX in 2015, and we started it because we both have close associations with the area of Tottenham. Josh has lived in Tottenham for five years and I’m from Haringey. We recognised that at the time there weren’t that many pubs, venues or spaces for people. After the Tottenham riots in 2011 we kinda identified a need for the area to have something where people can come together, whether it’s to perform, listen to music, watch theatre or have a chat over a beer. What we’ve always tried to do is have an open door to let people sit, hang out and book the space for events. We’re not trying to change anything we just want to celebrate what is already alive and kicking in Tottenham.
It’s also worth noting that due to the temporary nature of the warehouses on Ashley Road, I think Harringey council is more open to letting them out for more interesting and creative purposes; over the road we have Punch Drunk, The Cause and Grow. Also, with Hackney being closed off to new venues and clubs, things are creeping further north. There really is no place like Tottenham, it has this amazing creative energy. I mean look at Adele, look at Skepta – both from Tottenham. You have such a diverse range of people doing their thing and once you tap into that it is really exciting.