Technology

Posted on January 30, 2019 by staff

Tech for good firm chosen for Vodafone ad campaign

Technology

Entrepreneur Josh Turner has been selected to be the face of a global advertising campaign for Vodafone.

Turner is the founder of Stand4 Socks, which featured on our 51 Tech for Good Stars list last year and sells ethically made socks.

Launched in 2015, the business is an eCommerce platform on a mission to change the world. It has donated thousands pairs of specially made socks to homeless people in the UK and has also vaccinated thousands of kids against measles in Bangladesh and planted 3,000 trees.

Based at Accelerate Places in Manchester, he has grown the business by over 600 per cent in the last year.

Now he has been selected to be the face of a Vodafone advertising campaign featuring successful entrepreneurs.

He said: “It was great to be selected by Vodafone for the advert and the profile it has brought to the business has been fantastic, something I wouldn’t have ever expected when I came up with the idea of changing the world with socks.

“We moved to Accelerate Places to be around a number of like-minded people. The space is extremely professional and productive but also relaxing – which is important for a digital creative business like ours.

“A number of my close friends are running business from the space, some of our suppliers and partners are only a few desks away. It doesn’t feel like an office in the traditional sense. We also love the flexibility to grow provided by Accelerate Places.

“Although we are currently a very small team, we can double in size overnight if we needed to and this is very important to us.”

“The laid-back feel of the office means quite of few of us barely leave, working late and over weekends which I feel is because of the culture and environment here. It really is a second home for ambitious entrepreneurs.”

Manchester co-working space Accelerate Places has also welcomed its biggest member this month with the arrival of a newly formed digital innovation team from Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

Taking a mix of co-working desks and private office space, the team of 18, which works across Greater Manchester to optimise the sharing of information between organisations to support patient care, was successful in securing national funding to be one of the first NHS trusts to roll out the new programme.

Paul Moore, acting head of interoperability for Salford Royal NHS Delivery Team, said: “We have come together with a wealth of experience, and from a range of NHS and non-NHS organisations, to deliver this programme and we are excited by the opportunity this gives us to make a contribution to the 2.8m people living in Greater Manchester.

“We selected Accelerate Places as it was an ideal location for us as we have partner organisations based at offices right next to the two train stations, Piccadilly and Oxford Road.

“The move into the new premises has been seamless and the team love the modern feel of the dedicated space and positive vibes.

“We are already seeing the benefits of having a shared, dynamic office space and are looking forward to an exciting future.”