Sir Tom Hunter has called on the Scottish Government to meet with him and help push a social enterprise on after a report detailed the level of success MsMissMrs is having in helping women in Glasgow.

The social enterprise was set up in 2014 by Sylvie and provides financial, emotional, social and practical support to disadvantaged women and their families in communities across Glasgow. It has been backed by the Scottish Government as well as the Hunter Foundation, and they commissioned a report into the work that had been ongoing at the organisation.

Sir Tom was delighted to see the results with more than 100 women helped in just over a year and it allowed them to rebuild their lives, and saved almost half a million from the public purse during that time.

The incredible success in Glasgow is something Sir Tom wants to see spread across the country but he feels they need support from councils and the government to do that.

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He revealed he and his board and the foundation were blown away by Sylvie when she came to speak to them and reckons that with a bit more backing from those run the country, it could become an even bigger success.

He said: “Once we commissioned the report, we were so delighted with the results of it. If I’m honest, Sylvie who runs the organisation doesn’t want any publicity but I was saying to her that it could encourage other people in parts of Scotland so she agreed to do a bit of PR.

“She is a force of nature, she is terrific. Our foundation has learned a great deal from her. This isn’t in our wheelhouse but what we’ve been doing is that in the same way we encourage entrepreneurs and bring them together across Scotland, Ewan, who runs our foundation, had the idea of pulling together social entrepreneurs and giving them a similar experience of peer to peer support and learning and Sylvie is at the heart of it. She’s got a lot to share with others.

“The common thing you hear is there’s no money, I would say there is quite a lot of money but I would challenge by saying I don’t think it’s spent properly. If you look at what Sylvie is doing, there is better outcomes for the women who are challenged and need this help at a fraction of the cost of the public purse. The government has backed Sylvie, as the Hunter Foundation has, but my question would be that if we do more with Sylvie then we can save money.

“The most important thing is the people will get a better outcome. Sylvie came to the Hunter Foundation board and it was one of the best experiences we’ve ever had. I said to Sylvie to tell me why and she said first of all, if the women go to the social work and she calls it ‘brown desk syndrome’.

“It’s an office and the women are a bit intimidated and a bit feart. They’re looking across the table at someone and going ‘are you going to take my kids away’ whereas Sylvie has been through it and the women don’t feel threatened by her. She puts them at ease, they have a wee cup of tea and it's set up like a living room. The women can then open up and be honest and they meet others who aren’t judging them and been through it all and that is a really powerful thing.”

MsMissMrs is an organisation that takes a holistic approach to helping women overcome inequalities such as poverty and trauma by providing peer support as well as opportunities to connect with others, support in accessing benefits as well as training.

It’s estimated the organisation had an impact worth £3,043,064 between April 2022 and March 2023 from an investment of £165,000.

Sylvie Douglas (top left) with the MsMissMrs teamSylvie Douglas (top left) with the MsMissMrs team (Image: Sandy Young)

Both participants and referral organisations made it clear than MsMissMrs had a huge benefit on women’s families, the wider community and school and nursery attendance for some children.

One of those, Anna, was able to qualify as a wellbeing therapist and run her own business off the back of the help provided.

Another woman named Sally has been able to cope with life better after getting help while Sarah has since qualified as a nail technician having previously been unable to leave the house due to her mental health.

The women have all had their names changed to protect their anonymity but Anna described her story by saying: “I was living in a refuge, unemployed, unqualified and trying to financially survive. I was put in touch with MsMissMrs through my daughter’s nursery. They supported me in all kinds of ways but mostly to achieve more for my future so mine and my daughter’s lives would look different. With the support I moved to a new home, qualified as a wellbeing therapist and now run my own business and offer opportunities to others. My daughter is in sports and dance clubs and enjoys the life that a child should. Having people see my potential rather than my situation changed my life.”

With that level of success, all Sir Tom is now looking for support to turn it into something that can help even more people.

He continued: “In our foundation we do a thing called pilot something, prove it and then it’s got to be adopted by government or local authority. The first two bits we have done, but the third bit I don’t know how to do it. Someone else must and it’s probably government and local authorities. That’s the hard bit. We can have this wonderful work going on in this part of Glasgow and it’s life changing work, but I want to see it in the whole of Scotland.

“I don’t know how to do it but I’m saying to the powers at be, come and see what is happening and go and do it. You’re going to save money and you’re going to have better outcomes for people who need your help. That’s the hard bit.

“We’re just saying we don’t know how to do the next bit, you do. So come and sit and listen and see if we can do it.

“Change is difficult. Especially if it happens and people get a bit defensive but this is important stuff, let’s hope."