Social enterprises see fair play

Social enterprises support fair pay and also help disadvantaged groups into a good work situation. They are more likely to introduce a new product or service than other small firms.  Peter Holbrook is CEO of the trade body Social Enterprises.

Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain, The Big Issue and Divine Chocolate (Fairtrade and 45% owned by farmers) are all social enterprises. All tolled there are around 70,000 social enterprises in Britain.

Welsh Water recently announced it will offer a £32m windfall to its customers, reducing their bills.  Councils, private firms and housing associations have the purchasing power to help the social enterprise sector flourish.

They also provide internships for people wanting to learn a trade.  Livity, an agency in Brixton recently received £1.5m and is a creative agency run on the social enterprise model and fund Impact Ventures UK and will be using some of the funding to help train young people in creative, production, community and channel management as social data analysis.  For more information see the website.