From Engineer to a Successful Social Entrepreneur (An Interview with Herman Allen)

Herman Allen is the founder and current CEO of Holibrook House (children's homes) and Hopewell School. His working life has spanned over four decades, almost equally split between the first half as a chartered engineer and the second half as a social entrepreneur.

Coming from another industry to set up a social care business it was clear to Herman that he wanted to work on and not in the business, although he now realises that is not entirely possible. He saw his role as setting the direction and casting a vision guided by my faith, which is to "Restore Hope, Release Potential, Rebuild Lives". That core task remains to this day. He started over 20 years ago with a fostering agency called Homestead Fostering before closing that and opening his first children's home in 2003 called Holibrook House. He now has 3 homes, a few less than at our peak. We also opened a special school in 2006, to enable us to provide holistic services to our young people.

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