Maeve Monaghan, CEO at NOW Group & Chair of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland
Maeve Monaghan joined to NOW Group in 2001. She is responsible for the development of the organisation over the past 19 years.
She has been Chief Executive for the past 12 years and believes passionately in the rights of people with disabilities to have equal access to high-quality training and employment.
NOW Group, a limited company with charitable status, is an Award-Winning social enterprise that supports people with barriers to employment and learning into the workforce.
The organisation also operates three successful social enterprise businesses called Loaf Catering, Gauge Impact and JAM Card, the profits from which go back into NOW Group’s work.
Loaf Catering is a social enterprise operating four cafes and an outside catering business. Gauge Impact supports organisations across the third, private, public and philanthropy sectors in the UK and the Republic of Ireland to measure, evaluate and communicate their social impact.
JAM Card is a social innovation developed by NOW Group participants. It offers a simple and discreet way of communicating that someone needs ‘Just a Minute’ in social or business settings.
There are now 35,000 people using either a physical JAM Card or the app on their smartphone. Over 500 businesses are JAM Card friendly thus displaying their commitment to providing better customer service.
Maeve has an Advanced Diploma in Management Practices and a Masters in Executive Leadership from the University of Ulster.
She was named one of Belfast’s Top 50 Business People in 2007 and 2011 (Belfast Media Group), Female Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 (Social Enterprise Awards NI) and Outstanding Leadership and Management Leader 2018 Women in Business.
Maeve has been Chair of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland since October 2015 and was Chair of Give Inc, Ireland’s first Giving Circle, for four years.
Tell us about your current role and what you like about your career or areas of focus.
I am CEO of NOW Group, a social enterprise born in Belfast and now expanding across the island of Ireland. We support people with learning difficulties and autism into jobs with a future.
I started working for NOW in 2001 as a Project Officer with one other staff member and have grown and developed alongside the organisation, we now have a team of over 100 people.
I am also the Chair of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, with a £15m endowment it connects people who are with causes that matter. I am an Outgoing Chair of Give Inc. Ireland's first Giving Circle. We each give £1 per day and to date have gifted over £90k of our own money to local women, children and young people in crisis.
What inspires you, motivates you, helps you to make each day count?
I have a passion for social justice and belief that in our society the money should touch the sides.
As a social entrepreneur, I work hard to grow and support ethical and sustainable businesses that create opportunities for our most vulnerable communities.
I have a particular interest in ensuring the people with disabilities have increased access to quality jobs with a future and that businesses are reflective of the diversity of their customer base.
Outside of your professional work area, what hobbies or interests do you have or what other areas of your life are of real importance to you?
I am an avid reader and, during the lockdown, have added to this with podcasts – I currently love Conduit Conversations from Coutts. I love walking and am learning to paddleboard.
We have 3 children under 10, so during the lockdown, I have also been learning new dance moves via TikTok without realising it.
When it comes to your life chosen career, is there a phrase, quote or saying that you really like?
"Your vibe attracts your tribe."
I try to surround myself with "radiators" and not those people that could suck my positivity.
What are you most proud of in your life?
As someone who was never really the maternal type, I would have to say our three kids as they make us a family unit and I am amazed every day that we've got this far together!
I am also proud of the impact NOW Group makes on the lives of over 1000 participants every year. Every time I meet someone who has got a paid job or baked their first lasagna or achieved their first qualification, it still gives me the feels.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
That everyone is winging it and that that is OK.
Who do you most admire in business, academic or creative circles?
I'm a real fan of Mariana Mazucatto, an Economist and Professor at University College London, her book called "The Value of Everything" speaks to me about how money can be used differently to support the most vulnerable. She is one of the leading minds of innovation.
What companies, brands, or institutions do you like or do you think are getting it right?
On a multi-national scale, it would have to be Unilever. As a purpose-driven company from the beginning, their purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace. They believe that businesses that thrive in the future are those that serve society today. They are building their strategy on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
On a local level, I would have to say our social enterprise Loaf Catering. I'm biased, I know, but it is the leading social enterprise catering business, and it has worked very hard to deliver an excellent product while supporting 100 people with learning difficulties and autism into jobs with a future per year.
In 2019 we eliminated the use of single-use plastic throughout the business and had a range of social enterprise and artisan producers in our supply chain. We have ambitious plans to expand this model (currently 4 Cafes and a corporate catering delivery business in Northern Ireland) into cities across the island of Ireland.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
It is OK to show vulnerability. In the early days, people used to tell me I was too trusting and not tough enough and that that was a weakness. If Covid-19 and the lockdown have shown me anything, it is that vulnerability in leadership can be a strength.
Team members had told me that when they were apprehensive, stressed or struggling; it was good to know that I was having the same challenges. It was quite liberating to admit that I don't have all the answers.
What drives or motivates you each day in a work environment?
I have always been driven and ambitious.
I still love my job as much today as I did when I started. I am fortunate to be able to shape the direction of the organisation, and I often get to work on the exciting new projects – our expansion into the South of Ireland is one example of that.
But, I am as happy sitting over a cup of coffee with one of our participants who's telling me about their new job as I am securing a new tender or launching a new café project. At the core of everything, I want to see people do well, and I have the opportunity to see this in action most days.
What are your thoughts on the future of social media?
I'm not sure, to be honest, but I do see a move towards customers buying more via social media platforms.
As a social enterprise, we have a very limited budget for marketing and online marketing, but we have seen significant growth in the sale of our catering and bespoke pottery range online during the lockdown.
Social media does allow more non-professionals like me to get involved in promoting services and products, but the endless need for content does require constant attention.
What is your favourite social media platform, and why?
I am still a fan of Twitter as it has been instrumental in helping me build our organisation and my personal brand on a very limited budget.
I have made amazing connections on Twitter and LinkedIn, but my visual brain loves Instagram.
Do you have a mentor, or have you ever been a mentor to anyone?
Yes, I am part of a business leadership network, and I have a business mentor.
Everyone should have a mentor as long as they are a good one. It's a crowded market, but really good ones are worth their weight in gold.
How do you network? What is your preferred way to network?
I have been thinking about this a lot since lockdown as this has changed drastically.
I am not good with small talk and often struggle in big groups, so I tend to work the best one-to-one and rely a lot on personal introductions and recommendations.
We have ambitious plans to expand our services into the South of Ireland and plans to link into networking events etc. Have been limited due to current restrictions, but personal recommendations and introductions have worked exceptionally well so far.
What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same area of work?
I get asked this a lot, especially by people who are disillusioned in the private sector and are looking for purpose.
I tell them that the social enterprise sector is a great place to work, but it isn't enough to want to "do good".
Our sector needs amazing people with amazing skills and expertise. We are like any other business. It's just what we do with our profits that are different.
What do you feel is the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
I think we are too quick to think that failure confirms our doubts about ourselves.
When things don't go well, we say "well what did you expect?". What we need to realise is that everyone fails, but the winners get back up there and finish the job.
How do you define success, and what lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
Some days success is just getting through the day, to be honest, but that in itself is a valuable lesson.
I don't believe there is one goal or plan, and we work towards it. I believe that each day has little successes and it is by honing these and keeping adding to them that we really succeed.
What skills do you feel have helped you to become successful?
I am a born social entrepreneur. It's in my DNA. Right from the early days, my family tells stories of me getting all the kids on our street together to hold a jumble-sale or hire out our roller boots to raise money for local charities.
I have always been good at getting people engaged in a cause and working together to get results.
I love making money I just have never really thought about keeping it for myself, which sounds strange when I say that out loud. My job allows me to do what I love and use the skills I have honed to support vulnerable people. It's a perfect match.
Is there anything new that you are working on or involved in that you would like to share?
Our JAM Card initiative is an amazing tool (available in card format or a downloadable app) designed by and for people with communication difficulties. To help them tell shop keepers, bus drivers etc. That they need Just A Minute of patience when accessing public services.
It has amazing success to date with over 40,000 JAM Card users and over 300 businesses, mostly across the UK and Ireland, signed up for the JAM Card training and to become JAM Card friendly businesses.
More information available here at www.jamcard.org. Loaf Pottery has also launched an amazing range of hand-thrown mugs made at our social enterprise Pottery and Café in the idyllic village of Crawfordsburn, Co Down. You can check out the range and order your pottery with purpose online for worldwide delivery www.loafcatering.com/shop.