From passion to profit: Alumni business champions positive physical activity for girls

Ella Williams

Alumna

Founder of Our Goal

2019

Physical activity improves the lives of young people. As a mentor and coach for teenage girls, Ella shares how her passion has developed into a business to help girls to be stronger, happier, and more confident.

About the business

Our Goal CIC is a not-for-profit organisation which exists to improve the lives of girls through physical activity.

We train and upskill students to go out and deliver mentoring and physical activity programmes which are designed to boost their physical health and mental wellbeing.

The problem

Currently in the UK, 43% of girls drop out of sport in their teenage years. There are a number of reasons why: 61% feel judged, 50% lack self-belief, and 38% don't feel safe exercising outside.

This is a problem because being active boosts young people's physical health, mental wellbeing, and confidence. It promotes positive self-esteem and lowers levels of stress and anxiety (Public Health England, 2020). Importantly, evidence suggests that the benefits of physical activity are likely to continue into adulthood (Chalkley and Milton, 2021).

The journey

I graduated with a languages degree from the University of Sheffield in 2019. It was at University that I began my journey as a coach and researcher within football and physical activity and really began to realise the power of sport for good. I went on to work and research in the sport industry for a few years before founding Our Goal in the summer of 2023.

What began as a small project with a big dream is now my full time job and, thanks to funding from our partners and the council, we now have a small team of students who go out and deliver local interventions in Greater Manchester.

Over the next 12 months, I'd love to bring Our Goal back to Sheffield. I'd like to develop a partnership with the University to provide work experience opportunities for students to deliver our programmes to the local community and improve the individual health outcomes of more and more girls.

What motivates you to pursue entrepreneurship?

I set up Our Goal because of a mix of my own lived experience of dropping out of sport, years of experience working with girls to see the positive impact it had on their life, and extensive research around current situation and the barriers girls and women face.

I never planned to set up my own business, but since around the age of 20 I have known what my passion is and that is what drives me to make a success of my organisation. It's likely that the way the business works and the programmes we provide will change over the years, but the core motivation for existing will always be what drives me to get up and work every day.

I am driven to improve the lives of more girls and women through physical activity and sport, and being an entrepreneur is a way to channel that drive into something bigger and longer lasting than myself.
Ella Williams
Founder of Our Goal

How do you handle setbacks or failures?

We never shout about the things that go wrong on social media or our websites, but setting up a business from scratch is really hard.

I made a lot of sacrifices at the beginning when I had no job and no income but was working more hours than ever before to try and get my business off the ground.

It was hard reaching out to people to tell them about what you do when you can't even show them a product or service that has launched, and it's hard applying for funding when you have no evidence to suggest that your service works and makes a difference, even though you know that one day it will.

I can't remember the amount of times I've had to put myself in situations that are out of my comfort zone just to try and get in a room to talk to people who might one day be able to open a door for me, and most of those doors don't open that same month or even year.

The sessions make me excited to go in to school and have helped me with being more confident and speaking to people.
Natalie, 14
Programme participant

However, I truly believe in what I do. I know our work makes a difference and I've been dedicated and consistent with trying and failing and trying again.

I am still not in a place where Our Goal is completely financially sustainable in the long term, I don't know if I'll ever be able to say that I am, however, I do now have a small business which makes a positive impact in society and provides me with an income.

Things go wrong all the time, I juggle too much all the time, and I learn things the hard way, but all of that is outweighed by knowing what we do makes a difference that happened because of me!