During a time of national concern over the state of civil unrest throughout the country, especially amongst our young people particularly from areas of high unemployment and significant levels of economic deprivation, the challenges facing the country today feel greater than ever before. However despite the devastation, there are still positive signs of real changes taking place in our communities all around us.
According to a recent report produced by Social Enterprise UK and the Co-operative Bank, comprehensively documenting the the state of social enterprise in the UK 2011, details that 39% of all social enterprises are based and working in the 20% most deprived communities in the UK, where the need is the highest and they can have the greatest impact. The report uncovers a ‘start-up explosion’ in some of Britain’s most deprived communities, where individuals are doing it for themselves, tackling social problems and improving their local communities around them.
The report also details that Social enterprises are outstripping mainstream businesses for growth – 58% of social enterprises grew last year compared to 28% of SMEs, demonstrating confidence in the sector and the shift in public perception.
The most impressive summary of statistics from the report for me, relates to the diversity found in social enterprise leadership teams:
“Findings in Fightback Britain suggest that women in social enterprise leadership teams are challenging the glass ceiling, with 86% of leadership teams boasting at least one female director. Further, 27% of leadership teams have directors from black and minority ethnic groups and 7% have directors under the age of 24. In comparison, just 13% of the Institute of Directors’ membership is female and only 1% of its members are 29 years or under”.
The report provides refreshing insights into the positive developments and achievements within our communities throughout the UK, and societal shifts in public perception and individual’s aspirations towards wanting to make a difference.
The Guardian social enterprise network today posted an article titled: “CSR is dead, long live social enterprise” – discussing the challenges of how business and society can achieve success together. It certain feels that with such significant challenges being faced across the country, corporations and entrepreneurs have an important role to play within the communities around them, as clearly the need to re-establish common shared values and embedded social aspirations is more crucial than ever.
What do you think? Let us know you’re views and thoughts on the subject?
The full FightBack Britain report can be downloaded here it’s well worth a read.
Thanks for the comment Jeff. You’re absolutely right, the shared value idea isn’t new to social enterprise, the challenge is really about finding ways to encourage acceptance and understanding of social objectives and aspirations from corporations and more private businesses.
The FightBack Britain report however offers a refreshingly positive insight into the developments of what is still widely regarded as a sector very much in it’s infancy.
Here at Mowgli, our mission is to provide mentors who inspire, support and empower entrepreneurs in achieving their business and personal potential, to encouraging sustainable job creation and opportunities for all. Our aim is to support more entrepreneurs who are working directly for social or community benefit.
An Interesting article, social enterprises are making real changes and carry out fantastic work that improves the lives of the people in the community.
As a young Social Enterprise we are finding the increasing need of more organisations like ourselves in our community. At first we were naive in that we thought giving 70% of our profits to charity would be enough.
Having joined forces with experts in public sector and social enterprise start ups we have learned how we can expand our services in particular training for the unemployed.
However we can not apply for funding as a Ltd Company and need to set up a community group, which is why we needed help. Our fault really we should have done more research from the outset. But lesson learned and we can move forward trying to offer more value as we go.