Aayush Goyal, the co-founder of Edinburgh based social enterprise Social Stories Club has been invited to The Palace of Holyroodhouse on Monday to meet HM King Charles III on Monday.
The event will recognise the contribution which many people from South Asian communities have made to UK life. Those who have been invited are from the National Health Service to the arts, media, education, business and the Armed Forces.
Social Stories Club was founded four years ago to explain to people in the UK what a social enterprise is. Realising from research on Princes Street that only one per cent of people knew what the words meant, Aayush set up his own.
And the way it works is through corporate gift hampers each filled with products supporting social causes. There is chocolate which supports reforestation, soap which supports a collective of artists living with epilepsy and learning disabilities. Working from a warehouse in Wester Hailes the club employs people who might otherwise find getting a job difficult. The club has introduced more than one million people to the concept of social enterprise and employed people for 4,100 hours of employment where they would otherwise face barriers.
His Majesty has invited around between 200-300 people from the South Asian community to an event at the Palace later today. This follows a visit to Dunfermline this morning to declare the town a city, the first official engagement undertaken by King Charles and the Queen Consort since the period of royal mourning ended.
Aayush Goyal, co-founder of Social Stories Club, said: “I was really excited to receive a letter from King Charles inviting me to Holyrood Palace. It is fantastic that a light is being shone on the amazing work that South Asians are doing in the UK. It is important to show positive stories in the press on the work of South Asians in the UK. It will be fantastic to meet others who are just as committed to their local communities.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
