Anthony Djondo
Anthony Djondo is the Executive Director of Bootstrap Enterprises, an organisation in East London which works with people from disenfranchised communities, helping them to set up businesses. This is the 29th year of operation of Bootstrap Enterprises. The organisation was set up by Helen Evans and Martin McEnery back in 1977, initially in the Finsbury Park area of North London. They were looking for a system of tackling long-term unemployment and poverty, and using the Enterprise format to do that. They were helping local people to get into the co-operative housing movement, and supporting and advising them to set up their own businesses regarding finance and accommodation, etc. Then the organisation moved onto a housing estate, working with social landlords and local authorities, in a really deprived environment.
Bootstrap is also one of a number of organisations delivering employment skills and enterprise training to people in the local vicinity.
We shifted to Hackney in East London and we moved to our current premises in The Printhouse 18 years ago now. Slowly but surely, over the years, we developed the building to provide managed office and workshop spaces for budding enterprises. Bootstrap also set up several environmentally-focused businesses of our own, including computer recycling, paper recycling, etc.
It was around that time that Bootstrap moved into working on a housing estate, and also at the same time doing things around community finance like credit union development. Our main delivery is still hackney, but we are also delivering in Lambeth, Camden, Islington, Haringey and last year we worked in Housinlow doing credit union development work.
