Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Setting up a social enterprise has its challenges, particularly when it comes to finding space, funding and attracting customers.
It is entirely possible and incredibly rewarding when you get it right, though.
To find out more about how it’s done – and its ongoing challenges – Small Business spoke to double Commonwealth medal-winning table tennis player, Colin Wilson. He explains how he set up his table tennis centre, Corby Smash.
Why did you want to set up Corby Smash?
Firstly, I wanted to see whether you could make a table tennis centre which was full service – providing for beginners, disabled people and people with mental health issues, right up to developing international players.
Getting a long tenure is a challenge I’m also keen to take on. We’d rather that than be based in a community centre where the next April it can be taken away and transformed into something different.
The third reason is that I wanted to see if the centre can break even. Is it financially sustainable in the long-term? If successful, it could be replicated by other table tennis fanatics or entrepreneurs. The participation and membership of table tennis could increase ten-fold.
Take-up of table tennis

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