Celebrating Social Enterprise Day
If you know me well, you will know that I am passionate about business, its my job after all, but my greatest passion is business for a social purpose. I have had the honour of leading the BEC since before it was its own company, and therefore unashamedly am very proud of what we have achieved collectively, the staff, our Board, our community, and the fabulous businesses both commercial and social purpose that we support.
We are now hurtling towards our 8th Anniversary in February 2024; I would be fibbing if I said it has all been plain sailing it has been both challenging and rewarding in equal measure. I look back at the early days and wonder how we ever got this far, probably the recipe is tenacity, resilience, and the determination to support the business community locally and further afield. Of course, our success is attributed to the growth of Barking and Dagenham and our supporters in local government who have helped and supported on our journey and long may it continue.
We have had some interesting changes to our work in this last year, a notable increase in the number of people wanting to start a business for a social purpose. The closure of Everyone Everyday (Participatory City) and the distribution of the assets has led to several groups of residents wanting to continue their journey to delivering meanwhile services to their community. We are excited to see the future of these makers, sewers, and crafters and how this works, and of course will continue to support them on their journey to creating a Community Interest Company that sees all the assets from Everyone Every day put to good use.
We ourselves have teamed up with Make it Barking and are delighted to have been successful in the bid for the commercial kitchen which will be used to support both commercial food businesses, and community businesses alike. Hopefully from early next year.
However, in addition we lots of other people wanting to start social enterprises with ideas about bringing mental health services to the heart of the community, tackling obesity, and supporting people who have experienced domestic violence to name but a few. It is an exciting time and whilst we have seen a downturn in commercial business start ups (for obvious reasons) we have seen an expediential increase in the number of community-based businesses.
Diversity and inclusion are a hot topic these days, and the reality is that a Community Interest Company is far more likely to be led by people from BAME backgrounds than a commercial business. In the traditional commercial world only 10% of businesses are led by people from BAME backgrounds.
Another trailblazing initiative across the world of social enterprise is those businesses who are tackling the climate emergency. It may seem obvious but if your purpose is about helping people and creating social change then working in sustainability as a social business is booming.
This Thursday November 16th is Social Enterprise Day, a chance to look at the world of business for a social purpose or change. So maybe you could find that not for profit coffee shop or purchase a Christmas gift from the range of independent not for profit retailers to support the commitment.
Or maybe you want to join the movement and start a social enterprise and join the 100,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing £60 billion to the economy and employing 2 million people.
If you want to find out more about our mentoring and support for social businesses, an idea or you already exist but need help then reach out to us at reception@barkingenterprisecentre.co.uk.
