March 2016

Local heroes
them identify that," explains Sarah. "Whether it's
help to grow their business or to learn a new
skill – or whether they just want to meet people in
their local community."
So whether you're a dog-walker or web designer,
a van driver or a videorapher, you can trade your
time and skills with others. Each service is valued
at the same price, so trading doesn't have to be
like for like, and the possibilities are endless.
Networking at one of Echo's social events
Sarah Henderson and Alex
Gilbert talk to Julie Daniels
about Echo, a skills trading
platform where time, not
money, changes hands
Being a Hackney resident, I tend to look at things
from a local perspective and there's no doubt that
Echo (short for economy of hours) definitely has
that creative, left-field East End vibe.
The cynical among us may ask how members
know they'll get proper value from the system. "It's
all based on trust," says Sarah. "Every time they
do a trade they give each other feedback, which is
stored on the online platform. We trust members
to be honest and deliver good quality work and
because they buy into the ethos of Echo, the
community-mindedness of it, they have a positive
experience."
That certainly seems to be true for the members
whose stories can been seen on the newly
designed and very easy to navigate website.
"When trading with Echoes it just feels more
fair, all help is help, at one price," says one Echo
member Rustic Roots. "No one claims to be worth
more than anyone else."
Research from Echo shows that around 10 per
cent of members have also gone on to receive
paid work or employment from being part of
platform, so there is proof that it can bring
benefits of the monetary kind, too.
If you're looking to give a bigger boost to your
business, there's Echo++, the business accelerator
It's a locally-based enterprise – mostly funded by
the London Legacy Development Corporation –
and an online marketplace for skills and services.
A place where no money changes hands at all.
Rather than using old-fashioned hard currency, its
2500 members trade in "Echoes", where one Echo
equals one hour of work. So far, so East End, and
I find it hard to imagine that it could have been
created anywhere else.
It's the job of Sarah Henderson and Alex Gilbert,
two of the team behind Echo, to find out what it
is that members can offer each other. "We help
Sarah Henderson, Echo's director of operations
16 LOVEEAST