What is Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social or environmental objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders. Their entrepreneurial drive means they are able to provide innovative solutions to social problems.

Social enterprises can take many forms, and pursue a wide range of social and environments aims, often to benefit particular communities of interest or geographical areas. Social enterprises generate more than 50% of their income from trading, or at least 25% for start-ups, and reinvest the majority of their profits to further their social aims.

According to government statistics, there are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the UK with a combined turnover of £27billion per year. Social enterprises account for 5% of all businesses with employees, and contribute £8.4billion per year to the UK economy.

Some well know examples of social enterprise include:

Fifteen The well known restaurant run by Jamie Oliver that offers opportunities to disadvantaged young people offering them a chance to work and develop their skills.
Bulky Bobs: Part of the FRC group, they carry out bulky waste removal and then recycle the items collected. They also hire long-term unemployed and socially excluded people. Bulky Bobs was named as one of the top 50 places to work in the 2007 Annual Financial Times "Great Places to Work" survey.
ECT: Ealing Community Transport originally provided a transport services in West London. They have grown and now offer amongst others recycling, engineering and healthcare services. ECT, which works in partnership with a host of other organisations including 16 local authorities, other community organisations and regeneration bodies, provides services in London, the South West and the West Midlands and employs over 1,100 members of staff.
Phone Co-op:In the 10 years since it first started, the Phone Co-op has become one of the UK's top investors in the community. The services they provide were recently rated as a 'Best Buy' for both line rental and internet services by Ethical Consumer - the foremost independent ethical research organisation on consumer issues.
Sunderland Home Care Associates: Provide high quality care services, and create job opportunities in an area of high unemployment. They were the Enterprising Solutions Awards overall winners in 2006.