Partner Article

North East social enterprises have a vision

SOCIAL ENTERPRISES in the North East of England were yesterday presented with a vision for the future, which sees the region exceeding the national averages for the number of social enterprises by 2015.

‘Making the Change’ is the first ever framework for the development of social enterprise in the North East and was published yesterday at a social enterprise conference.

Roy Stanley, chair of the regional business support service Business and Enterprise North East, said: ’In my role I have made it my mission to work with others to create a thriving and diverse social enterprise sector in the north east.

‘This framework will enable social enterprises and entrepreneurs, wider third sector organisations and supporting stakeholders to play an active part in making change happen for social enterprise in the north east.’

According to the publication, nationally social enterprises make up five per cent of all businesses so if the North East had its ‘fair share’ it should expect to have 2,300 social enterprises, but the most recent regional estimates have only identified 1,000 to 2,000.

‘Making the Change’ authors now hope the region can overcome this deficiency and exceed the national average with more than five per cent of the businesses in the region being social enterprises by 2015.

Speakers at yesterday’s meeting expect to see social enterprises in the region working together to grow their businesses and inspire new social entrepreneurs.

At least 200 delegates received information about finance, funding and social investment at the gathering.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .