Social Enterprise Festival November 2014

It’s that time of year again: the clocks go back, trick or treaters roam the streets, bonfire smoke gets in your eyes, and, oh yes, it’s time for Plymouth’s annual Social Enterprise Festival.

This year festivities run from 17^th to 21^st November and are held, as usual, during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The festival is hosted by Plymouth Social Enterprise Network and we are thrilled to be part of something happening all over the world where people will be celebrating the passion and inspiration behind business.

Our take on this is that we need to go a step further than ‘business as usual’. We want to see how we can harness the best of entrepreneurial thinking to tackle the world’s - and Plymouth’s - social, economic and environmental problems.

The week itself is packed full of thought-provoking and practical activities. We have secured some of the nation’s top social entrepreneurs to share their stories with us. People like Jenny Dawson of food business Rubies in the Rubble; Cecilia Crossley of children’s clothes firm From Babies with Love and Jess Smith from the ethical PR company Poached Creative. There are practical sessions on marketing and proving social impact. We will celebrate the rising stars of the social enterprise world in Plymouth. The CEO of Social Enterprise UK - Peter Holbrook - will talk to us about how the social economy is set to transform public policy. There will even be a ‘liveblog’ at Rumpus Cosy café on Derry’s Cross. This will all be served with a hearty dose of social enterprise beer, bread and chocolate.

The festival is made even more special by the fact that Plymouth is the world’s first and finest Social Enterprise City. We want to celebrate this and also to explore what’s next. We want to see how social enterprises can be more influential in the economy of our city and how they can solve the big issues of today. Let’s not forget that social enterprise in Plymouth is already big business - PSEN members have a combined turnover of half-a-billion pounds and employ 7,000 people.

This is also the last festival before the next round of political elections in May 2015. If you want to influence the people who will be shaping economic and social policy for the next five years please come along and share your opinions.

Information about all the events can be found at www.socentcity.com.

Refine/define: Why talking about what is a social enterprise is still important

“So you’re a social enterprise, eh? What does that mean then?” How many times have you been asked that question? How many times have you answered it but still aren’t convinced that they questioner has ‘got it’ or believes it?

The debate about the definition of social enterprise may well seem jaded and old news to those of us within the social enterprise community but it seems that a large proportion of the general public didn’t even realize there had been a debate going on. So the aforementioned question comes up time and time again. If we want to establish new audiences for social enterprise and push the concept into a wider public consciousness it is vitally important to maintain a public dialogue about ‘what is a social enterprise’.

No one really seems to question you in the same way if your business is a charity or Fairtrade or eco-friendly. There is an automatic assumption these are ‘good’ things. People know what these terms mean. They come with a nice badge, logo or number that tells the public they’ve been checked out and do indeed do what they say on the tin. If only there was a similar thing available to social enterprises…

Enter the Social Enterprise Mark. The Mark is the social enterprise equivalent of the Fairtrade logo or the Charity Commission number. The Social Enterprise Mark provides:

*A clear definition of what constitutes a social enterprise
*An instantly recognisable ‘stamp of approval’ to show that your business has been independently assessed and meets criteria to justifiably call itself a social enterprise
*A national community of like-minded ethical businesses for social enterprises to engage with
*A range of other benefits around marketing and support.

There is growing interest in the Social Enterprise Mark, particularly among large organisations like universities.Plymouth University is the first social enterprise university and has held the Mark since 2012. Another university is set to join. Many of the large health spin-outs also hold the Mark. These organizations provide services to huge numbers of people and have strong roles in public life in their respective towns, cities and areas. I would like to see more large healthcare providers really engage with the public around understanding that they are receiving great services from a local social enterprise. The Mark could help them do this.

As the social enterprise sector, and public awareness of it, continues to grow, so I hope that the Social Enterprise Mark will continue to flow into public consciousness and eventually become as recognizable as the Fairtrade logo. The Mark will evolve, I am sure, and we need an ongoing dialogue about what it means to be a social enterprise both within and outside the sector.

With the introduction of the Social Value Act in 2013 there is a requirement for social value and impact to be given more weight within commissioning of services. Consumers are looking to purchase ethical goods and for businesses to behave better. Surely then, the time is right for the Social Enterprise Mark to become a stamp of social value so that commissioners and customers alike will recognize social enterprises and be able to make more informed choices about the goods and services they buy and use.

I believe that social enterprises are better for the economy and for society. We need to articulate more clear what 'better' looks like of course. Social enterprises create wealth and jobs and also deliver environmental and social value. The Mark can be the guarantee that proves this.