Written by Marlo Krumbhaar

The Melting Pot, located in the heart of beautiful Edinburgh, Scotland, was one of the world’s first coworking spaces. During my five weeks as a Business Development intern, I was inspired by their journey to become Scotland’s Centre for Social Innovation. I worked alongside Sam Ross, the Business Development Manager, on several projects, including their movement towards creating “places with purpose” by leveraging their history and network to foster social innovation across Scotland. This internship was a pivotal experience for me, allowing me to apply my learnings from my education so far at the University of Colorado Boulder, and offering invaluable insights and practical skills that will significantly shape my future career in business development and social innovation.

Common Themes I’ve Observed at The Melting Pot

As I reflect on my time at The Melting Pot, several recurring themes stand out, each offering lessons that have shaped my understanding of social enterprises.

Places with Purpose: Transforming underutilised spaces is a key theme at The Melting Pot. For example, The Melting Pot, once a nightclub, became a hub for social impact. The network that Sam and others at The Melting Pot introduced me to allowed me to identify similarities with how other organisations, like AirBnB, reconceptualised what productive use of space looked like. You’ll hear more from The Melting Pot about this phrase, “places with purpose”, in due course!

Community: Building a supportive network within and outside The Melting Pot is vital. Unlike profit-focused businesses, social enterprises require a strong community to thrive. The Melting Pot achieves this through their networking and partnership events. I had the opportunity to attend several events which moulded my thinking on AI, and on leadership.

One of my proudest achievements during this internship was presenting my research to a number of trustees at a subgroup meeting. The presentation, entitled Social Innovation Consultancy Mapping, aimed to provide a fresh perspective by comparing and analysing other social innovation hubs. This experience also deepened my understanding of the internal structure of The Melting Pot and the role of the board within a social enterprise.

The event, ‘Ambitions Live’, really shaped my views on leadership and was a dynamic networking event and workshop tailored for social enterprises and charities. It provided informative lessons on marketing a firm, leadership, networking, and support.

One of these included the simple advice to delineate between, “This is what I want” and “This is what I can offer.” It’s crucial to hone in your requests and articulate your needs. I also had the opportunity to deliver a pitch based on the story of The Melting Pot which, although nerve-wracking, was a great way to reinforce my learnings about the business and get feedback on my storytelling.

Reflecting on My Personal Growth and Development

One aspect of this internship that intrigued me was the difference in workplace culture between America and Scotland. Even though this was my first workforce experience, I’ve observed that American culture often maintains a strong rigor in upholding ‘work culture’ with a clear separation from our personal lives and, in extreme cases, personalities. In contrast, I found that the culture in Scotland is much more friendly, comfortable, and relaxed.

My internship at The Melting Pot has been an invaluable experience, providing me with significant understandings and practical skills in social innovation and business development. The recurring themes of balancing profit with purpose, the importance of community, creating places with purpose, and the power of storytelling have profoundly shaped my understanding of social enterprises. These experiences have not only helped my career aspirations but also highlighted the type of work environment where I do best.