Birmingham hosts the first Midlands CIC gathering
Posted on 7 July 2011
By Melanie Mills, SEWM Business Development Manager
Yesterday, we attended CIC Central - the first Midlands Community Interest Company gathering. The event was held at Enta CIC in Birmingham and organised by Harris & Harris CIC (thanks to Heidi and Debbie). There is always so much to be gained from being in a room with like-minded individuals who are passionate about ‘doing business differently’. The CIC governance model is growing and gaining impetus daily with over 5,000 incorporated CICs to date.
Sara Burgess the CIC regulator anticipates the next 5,000 will come much more quickly but with this growth the challenges still remain to educate and inform the professional services sector, public sector organisations and the general public what we, the Community Interest Companies are all about.
It was still very clear that whilst we are all very sure about why we chose this form of more easily identifiable social enterprise we still have a long way to go outside our own backyard! We at SEWM know why we chose this model of governance for us, it was all about protecting the intellectual property, knowledge and research assets which we wanted to ensure would always be available for our local social enterprise community.
We know the professional advice we always hear from solicitors, accountants and business advisors is about ensuring you choose the right structure depending on what you need your business vehicle to do for you and whether you are an IPS, Ben Comm, Company Ltd by Guarantee or indeed one of the ever growing CIC community we welcome, support and embrace the opportunity to continue to advocate, support and open up new markets for social enterprise working together with partners from across the country.
We look forward to the next CIC Central meeting and to welcoming Sara Burgess the CIC Regulator and John from the CIC Association back to tell us more about the emerging opportunities for CIC’s.
For more information about CIC’s, visit:
To locate social enterprises in your area, visit buySe.co.uk - the New National Social Enterprise Directory website.