SEWF22 Brisbane Participant Spotlight: Cameron Campbell, STAT SALUS

This year’s Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) took place in Brisbane, Australia this week and it has been great to liaise with social social enterprise owners and leaders from around the world. This year, CEIS via the International Social Enterprise Observatory (ISEO) is supporting Scottish social enterprise representatives to participate in SEWF 22 in-person in Brisbane.

ISEO is a Scottish Government funded project aimed at supporting enterprises who currently trade or have ambitions to trade internationally, to highlight Scotland as a social enterprise destination, increase social enterprise engagement internationally and promote Scotland as a social enterprise leader.

In this, the final part of our SEWF22 Brisbane Participant Spotlight blogs, we had a chat with Cameron Campbell from STAT SALUS prior to the event to see what he was looking to gain from his time in Australia. Cameron established STAT SALUS established to support people with bowel and bladder disorders, many of whom aren’t able to afford basic Toilet Hygiene Products. Read on to see what he was looking forward to at the event. 

Tell us a little more about STAT SALUS

Cameron Campbell of STAT SALUS

At the age of 13, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease which is an incurable bowel condition which destructively shapes your life. Like those with Ulcerative Colitis, IBS, IBD and Bowel Cancer you can become self-imprisoned in your own home with a need to be near a clean toilet for fear of having a ‘toilet accident’ in public and the resulting ‘social embarrassment’.

These kids miss out on education and the development of social skills through being unable to integrate with their peers. This means that they never reach their true potential, and this affects their further education, training, job prospects, resultant happiness and quality of life.

At STAT SALUS, by providing them with free toilet hygiene essentials, we liberate them from their isolation back into their local communities to live a more fulfilling lifestyle.

They take prescribed medication which suppresses their immune systems and that creates an even greater need for them to have the benefit of our Toilet Hygiene Essentials as so many toilets away-from-home lack basic hygiene, and this leaves sufferers of bowel disorders prone to catching an infection followed by a further set-back in their bowel condition.

They also experience poor mental wellbeing. All this takes its toll on a person and 95% of sufferers also live with stress and even depression. It’s hardly surprising; spending so much of their time in social isolation. When you haven’t been to school for a while, that social isolation becomes social exclusion. At STAT SALUS we aim to help keep kids at school and involved in life.

Why did you apply for a bursary to attend SEWF 22?

I was at SEWF in Edinburgh in 2018 and had such a fantastic time. The lectures, the exhibition, the people I met, the stories I shared with other delegates and entrepreneurs all served as an enormous inspiration. I went to meet fellow delegates and came away with good friends from all over the world.

I was at university at the time so I went on to finish my degree in International Business Management with Finance and Entrepreneurship from The University of Strathclyde and then started my own Social Enterprise.

SEWF2018 gave me invaluable food for thought which stood me in good stead for starting STAT SALUS. I’m returning in 2022 to further build on my knowledge from 2018 and apply more of what I learn within STAT SALUS to allow us to deliver more Social Impact.

SEWF2018 promotional bag

Also, to give you an idea of how much I enjoyed SEWF 2018, look at this bag. I have kept this bag from the Edinburgh event as a souvenir. I don’t use it. It hangs on my office wall and delights me with flashbacks of the wonderful time I had in Edinburgh.

The aim of ISEO is to support Scottish organisations who have ambitions to, or currently trade internationally? What are you hoping to achieve from this trip on a personal and organisational level?

With attendees from some of the most successful Social Enterprises in the world along with Government and policy makers in attendance, I’m looking to connect with them and look at potential partnerships as STAT SALUS looks to expand beyond Scotland.

I’m very fortunate to be fully immersed in SEWF2022 by attending not just the conference but also extra activities such as the amazing tours where over two days we will be visiting Social Enterprises on the ground in Brisbane and the Gold Coast. This will give me the opportunity to learn and connect with them and bring this new knowledge back to Scotland to implement in STAT SALUS. In particular, I’m enthused to be visiting Australian Spatial Analytics where their world revolves around big data, and the neurodiverse staff who are uniquely able to interpret the complexity of the data.

At these kinds of events I think it’s important to immerse yourself within the ecosystem at this event by playing an active role. Professional contacts, friendships and business opportunities are there to be had. All the information and advice you need to learn more about social enterprise, the ecosystem and what to do to grow your enterprise is here at this event. That’s why I’m here. To take STAT SALUS forward: in my case, internationally.

On a personal level, I can’t wait to learn more about the diverse culture within Australia and the surrounding countries.

Cameron previously working at City Facilities Management in Melbourne.

I’m excited about going to Brisbane. Australia is extremely far away but I’m lucky to have visited several times before. It’s such an exciting country. I’ve driven the east coast from Sydney to Cairns and had a wonderful time in Australia’s (FNQ) Far North Queensland. I’ve also lived and worked in Melbourne for the world’s largest Facilities Management company, CityFM. I have many relatives and friends across the whole of Australia and I’ll be making sure to squeeze in some time to visit some of them. One of my many cousins who emigrated there from Scotland with his family, once said to me, “Australia has been kind to me. Anyone who’s prepared to work hard will find it very rewarding here.” Clearly he and his family are extremely happy with life Down Under.

This vast country has had to learn to become very resourceful due to its geographic location. So it is no surprise that there are so many people in Australia with an entrepreneurial mindset and interested in the ‘social economy’. With these Australians, together with entrepreneurs from so many other parts of the world gathering in Brisbane for SEWF22, I’m excited to be heading there to meet them. 

What opportunities are you hoping this will create e.g. in-person business meetings you are able to participate in, new networks etc?

SEWF22 will be my golden opportunity to listen to others and learn some transferable knowledge from different sectors which will be applicable to my own Social Enterprise in the healthcare sector. Such opportunities, where like minds gather, are rare on the calendar within the Social Enterprise Ecosystem. So, I have prepared a list of aspects within my own Social Enterprise which I’m looking to improve upon. SEWF2018 was full of the best minds in the world within the SE Sector all bouncing knowledge and ideas off each other so I’m here again this year to learn more, to apply it to STAT SALUS and to share my learnings and pitfalls with others. With other SEWF delegates I will find the inspiration to create these improvements.

Among the extra events, I’ll be attending the Youth Forum which will be extremely valuable based on my experience at SEWF2018. Whilst many entrepreneurs practise tried and tested approaches to problems encountered, it is among the less risk averse youth where you find interesting pioneering views on how to circumvent challenges within the Social Enterprise Ecosystem.

Additionally, I’ll be having business meetings because these events aren’t just about ‘learning’ but for creating business opportunities. I haven’t left anything to chance. These meetings have now been planned for the past two months and I’m really looking forward to them while I’m there. I’ll also be complementing this with some catch ups with friends too as it’s important to have some social relaxation to recharge your mind for business.

What are you most looking forward to?

In addition to learning, sharing and networking; I’m most excited about moderating the session on Social Enterprises in Health Care. I’ve been extremely lucky to meet with the amazing panellists online already and hear about the tremendous impact they’re all having within Social Entrepreneurship and their respective communities. It will be great to hear about more of this in front of a live audience but I’m most looking forward to hearing what questions the audience have along with sharing their own experiences.

Additionally, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m looking forward to the Official SEWF Afterparty on Thursday evening; a tremendous close to the conference and a cold beer always tastes better in the warm climate!

We’d like to thank Cameron for taking the time to answer our questions.

Cameron formed part of the wider delegation that attended this year’s SEWF, co-ordinated by our Marketing and Events Manager Jo Seagrave.

To find out more about the Social Enterprise World Forum, this year’s conference and future events, please visit their website.