Social Enterprise

Trading Places?

What is a Social Enterprise?What is a Social Enterprise?

These are!These are!

So what’s a Social Enterprise?

• Social Enterprises are businesses that create income from trading activity to address a social or environmental need and generate profits that are re-invested for a social or environmental purpose

Twelve Steps to Start Up1. Define your business ideas2. Define your social or environmental purpose3. Conduct a risk assessment4. Conduct market research5. Select your business model6. Assess your skills and identify your resources 7. Take professional business, legal and accountancy

advice8. Develop your business plan9. Select the best legal form 10.Obtain any necessary permissions/licensing/insurance11. Identify and secure funding and finance12.Open a bank account and register with HMRC/VAT

Sustainable trading

• Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity

• Balancing customer needs, money and mission

• Understand the foodchain

• Impact pricing

Sustaining organisations• Balanced income

streams reduce risks

• Business skills improve team performance

• Customer focus improves retention and brand loyalty

How to become a Social Enterprise

• Identify the social or environmental problem your enterprise will overcome

• Have a great business idea that can maximise benefits and keep costs down

• Get a real business plan that you love and can use

• Apply for the Social Enterprise Mark and use it proudly

Business models

• Manufacture• Distribution• Retail• Services• Direct or indirect• Team or sole trader• Sub-contractor• Franchise

Legal forms

• Sole trader/Unincorporated Association/Unregistered Charity/Partnership

• Limited Liability Company/CIC by shares or guarantee (Directors)

• Limited Liability Partnership (Designated Members)

• Co-operatives/IPS (Executive Committee)• Charitable Incorporated Organisation or

Registered Charity and trading arm subsidiary (Trustee/Directors)

Finance and Funding

• Start Up Grant - Unltd Level 1 (max £5k)and Business Enterprise Fund (max £1500 match)

• Investment and loan – Impetus CDFI/Clearly So/Big Issue Invest/Equity Plus/Social Investment Business

• Development grant – BEF Business Booster (max £5k over 9 months old, £1500 less than 9 months)

Current economic challenges

• Market polarity, middle being squeezed

• High inflation, especially energy/fuel

• Personalised budgets (Health and Social Care)

• Disposable income down, essentials only

Social Enterprise

Please Support?

Q&A

Signposting• Unltd www.unltd.org.uk• BEF

www.herefordshire.gov.uk/business/business_support/45918.asp• www.shropshire.gov.uk/economicdevelopment.nsf• Impetus www.impetus-marches.co.uk• Big Issue Invest www.bigissueinvest.com• Clearly So www.clearlyso.com• Business Link www.businesslink.gov.uk• Elaine Edwards elaine.edwards@herefordshire.gov.uk

• Nick Comley nickc@comfirst.org.uk• Social Enterprise West Midlands

www.socialenterprisewm.org.uk