Mother and daughter duo shine a light on social enterprise

Mother and daughter duo shine a light on social enterprise

By Mary Dennehy

A TALLAGHT mother and her six-year-old daughter are shining a light on a nationwide call for budding social entrepreneurs.

Living in Ardmore, Jolene Cox and her daughter Lily Mae have become an energetic duo in promoting healthy home cooking that is accessible, easy and affordable for all. 

Social Entrepreneurs Joelene and Lilly Mae compressor

Jolene, aka One Yummy Mummy, was last year accepted into the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Academy for her home-grown, grassroots cooking programme.

Called Now We’re Cooking, Jolene’s social enterprise is a six-week cooking programme delivered in schools to parents.

The relaxed programme aims to equip mams and dads with the skills necessary to go back to basics – and from press to plate in 40 minutes when time is of the essence.

Despite a competitive playing field, Jolene made it into the top five of last year’s Social Enterprise Ireland Academy, netting the funding necessary for a nationwide roll-out of her programme.

The funding also allowed Jolene to collaborate with a nutritionist on her dishes, knowledge which is then passed onto participants.

“The hope is now to roll the programme out nationally”, Jolene told The Echo.

“The idea is to get parents back into cooking, home cooking, through easy recipes that are budget-friendly.

“Time can be the biggest obstacle for busy mams and dads.

“I want to make home cooking the new convenience, it’s better for our health and our families.”

Jolene also provides participants with practical information to make meal-time a little easier, like what ingredients to stock in their cupboard.

To date, Joelene has run her programme in four schools.

The programme is paid for by the school and delivered to parents for free.

“The programme is non-judgemental and about having fun,” Jolene said.

“It’s also an outlet for participants and the sharing of stories as people cook.”

The big goal for Jolene is to have Now We’re Cooking in every village in Ireland.

Social Entrepreneurs team shot compressor

She hopes to see her social enterprise grow through the training of other people with a passion for cooking – and who are interested in delivering the programme in their community.

Jolene’s family recipes are all tried and tested on six-year-old Lily Mae, who is a student of Scoil Aoife in Tallaght.

Lily Mae is also a dab hand at cooking, making meal-time in the Cox household a family affair.

“It was lovely for Lily Mae to be part of the photocall [for Social Entrepreneurs Ireland],” Jolene said.

“She’s a huge part of what I do.”

When asked how Lily Mae reacted to her picture up in lights, and as the Irish Times feature image, Jolene said: “She was delighted, couldn’t wait to tell her teacher.”

The innovation within South Dublin County in creating social enterprises for the betterment of communities is evident in the Academy’s alumni.

These include Tallaght-based enterprise FoodCloud, which transforms surplus food into opportunity for charities and community services, and Ballymount-based Recreate, which encourages creativity through the re-use of materials.

Applications are now open for the Ideas Academy, those with early stage ideas, and the Impact Programme, aimed at individuals ready to grow and scale their existing projects.

Interested candidates are invited to apply before midnight on Tuesday, April 7.

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