​Community business set to expand thanks to investment

A teenage social entrepreneur has bagged a £30,000 loan to expand his social firm.

Paisley-based Jordan McPhail is set to grow Aspire Community Solutions thanks to the loan from Social Investment Scotland (SIS) to purchase a new liveried van.

One of Scotland’s youngest successful social entrepreneurs, McPhail, 19, established Aspire in March 2015 as a community building business aimed at improving the local community by tidying it up and opening up green spaces for the local community.

It also provides construction, landscaping, civil engineering, cleaning and property maintenance services.

Aspire’s work not only benefits the environment, but also has a significant social impact by training up local people who are out of employment to deliver these services and ultimately enable them to move into employment.

McPhail said: “Through Aspire, we are trying to develop a new type of organisation, one which gives back to the local community and helps to get more people back into employment.

“We know that there is a healthy demand, particularly among our public and local authority customers, for a social enterprise that can meet their contract needs while delivering a social impact.

"However, to date, we’ve been held back by our reliance on a hired vehicle to transport us and our equipment between projects."

Alastair Davis, chief executive of Social Investment Scotland, said: “It’s great to see a social enterprise offering such a viable and credible alternative to the traditional commercial operators competing for these contracts.

“We’re really looking forward to working with Jordan and the Aspire team as they seek to take the next step on their journey.”