In the West Midlands our role is to increase awareness and value of social enterprise as business option across a number of different audiences.
At best only one in four people have heard of ‘social enterprise’ and are surprised to learn that high profile examples such as the Co-op, the Big Issue, and the Eden Project are social enterprises.
Amongst the public sector, lack of awareness or misconceptions about social enterprise means that there is significant unrealised potential which we are working to address.
Either directly or in partnership with our members, we aim to:
To raise the profile of social enterprise across the West Midlands and its contribution to the region’s economy
Promote social enterprise as a career option including those seeking to go into business, developing new projects, or exploring options to generate income for their voluntary organisations
To raise awareness of the diverse range of social enterprise business models
Promote social enterprise as an important part of the business community
We aim to reach:
Key policy/decision makers within the public sector and funding bodies
Central and local government
Existing and emerging social enterprises
Social entrepreneurs
Business support agencies
Young people (including students and graduates)
Trading voluntary and community organisations
Regeneration partnerships and companies
Schools, colleges and universities
Private sector businesses
Press and media
Our marketing activities:
£117,000 regional marketing grants programme: The grant programme has enabled us to directly support around 15 projects all aiming to increase awareness of social enterprise across the region.
Social Enterprise Convention: The region’s first Social Enterprise Convention was held on 29 January 2008, which included keynote presentations from Jonathan Bland, Social Enterprise Coalition and Social Enterprise Ambassadors Jean Jarvis, Chief Executive – South Shropshire Furniture Scheme and Martin Kinsella,P3.
Website: Our website is a regional platform for showcasing the benefits of social enterprise.
National links: We are promoting the West Midlands social enterprise sector at a national level through our involvement with the Social Enterprise Coalition and relationships with our equivalent social enterprise networks in other regions.