Member Article

Best Social Entrepreneur in North East Announced

BE Group has officially launched the UK Social Entrepreneur Index sponsored by UBS, a campaign designed to celebrate those entrepreneurs doing things a little differently to make our world a better place.

The inaugural UK Social Entrepreneur Index celebrates the social impact, creativity and innovation of 29 of the UK’s most inspiring social entrepreneurs and Smart Resourcing Solutions MD, Sophie Milliken is on the list, representing the North East.

The campaign focuses on the entrepreneurs behind the businesses; telling their story and providing inspiration to thousands of others in the process.

Eight UK ambassadors together with the index supporter, Social Enterprise Mark CIC, have helped to promote social entrepreneurship and worked with BE Group through the process to identify the future role models who are featured in the online index.

BE Group’s commercial director Bryan Hoare, explained: “Over many years, BE Group has been celebrating and inspiring entrepreneurship across the UK. “As part of this focus, we’ve launched the UK Social Entrepreneur Index - a celebration of entrepreneurs running businesses with social purposes who we hope will also act as beacons of inspiration for others to encompass positive social impact.”

“We’ve been delighted with the response and quality of entries in this first year and we hope to grow the UK Social Entrepreneur Index in future years. “Alongside the digital campaign, we held roundtable debates about the future of social entrepreneurship, the global challenges and how we can improve. The entrepreneurs are excited about the index and the opportunity for open discussion and we look forward to continuing the conversations at our celebration event in May and beyond.”

As national sponsors, UBS Global Wealth Management has played a key role in supporting the Social Entrepreneur Index, acting as lead partners to help deliver the campaign across the UK.

Jonathan Brown, head of regions at UBS Wealth Management, said: “With significant levels of wealth being created in the regions, UBS Wealth Management’s focus is on the whole of the UK, not just London. Many of our clients are entrepreneurs, and we’re seeing more and more often that they are seeking to act in a responsible way, whether that is through investing sustainably or ensuring their businesses have a positive social impact. “We want to ensure these entrepreneurs see their efforts recognised and supported, and that’s why we are delighted with the response to the inaugural Social Entrepreneur Index.”

The UK Social Entrepreneur Index has received the support of eight ambassadors who were selected for being shining examples of how social entrepreneurs can make an impact on a local and international level. They have invested their time to help inspire current and future social entrepreneurs. They are: Alan Mahon - Brewgooder; Andrew Bastawrous - Peek Vision; Cameron Saul - BOTTLETOP; Kate Welch - Social Enterprise Acumen CIC; Lucy Buck - Child’s i Foundation; Paul Skidmore - Rising Academies; Rachel Wang - Chocolate Films; and Rosie Ginday - Miss Macaroon.

Paul Skidmore, founder of Rising Academies, said: “With so many inspiring stories to choose from, selecting the social entrepreneurs to join this year’s index was really hard. In the end what set the winning entries apart was not just the clarity of their diagnosis, nor the novelty of their solution, but their proven track record in making things happen even in the face of adversity.”

Sophie Milliken, MD at Smart Resourcing Solutions, said: “I’m delighted to be representing the North East in the Social Entrepreneur Index. The work we do with students to give them the skills to secure placements and graduate jobs is hugely rewarding and we hope to make a difference to over 6000 students this year with even larger growth plans over the next three years.”

The full Index has been launched online. SRS has been recognised as outstanding by a number of industry bodies including the ISE, AGCAS and the CIPD.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Anna Toms .