Buy Social West of England
West of England Social Enterprise Network wins funding to drive growth of social enterprises in the West of England area.
● £20,000 of funding raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery to boost growth of local social enterprises
● Commitment to support local businesses and institutions to buy from social enterprise suppliers
● Social enterprises are taking on some of the biggest issues in the West of England such as homelessness, hospitality, construction and education inequalities.
● Buy Social Regional Programme will help social enterprises win more business and increase their impact.
The West of England Social Enterprise Network has been selected to be part of a programme to boost the West of England business to business (B2B) with social enterprises. The Buy Social Regional Programme will support social enterprises by helping them find customers and access new markets.
Black South West Network (BSWN) will receive £20,000 of support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery through the Postcode Innovation Trust, which will be used to grow the social enterprise ecosystem in the West of England, bringing together the area’s social enterprises with other businesses and potential buyers such as Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority as well as the University of Bristol and the University of West of England.
The South West is already an accredited SEUK Social Enterprise Place, having been recognised as a hotspot of social enterprise activity. There are currently around 5,500 organisations, with potentially some 2,200 of these generating at least 25% of their income from trading activity in the West of England – businesses set up to trade for a social or environmental purpose and which re-invest the majority of their profits back into the local community. They are taking on some of the biggest issues we face from knife crime to the climate emergency and are helping create jobs and opportunities for people throughout the region.
Examples of social enterprises in the South West include Cables and Camera, Street to Boardroom, Triodos Bank, OPOKA, Playwooden CIC, Knowle West Media Centre and Youth Connect South West – Supporting young people across the region (B&NES).
The funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery will help drive engagement with local social enterprises.The engagement will include delivering training sessions for the local authorities and universities to encourage them to use their spending with social enterprises, as well as hosting ‘meet the buyer’ events aimed at enabling social enterprises to connect with organisations they can do business with. The aim is to engage the regions social enterprises in the first year of the programme.
The Buy Social Regional Programme is run by Social Enterprise UK, the membership body for social enterprises which represents the over 100,000 social enterprises in the country. The Programme will be directed locally by BSWN, an organisation with a track record of supporting enterprises and social enterprises in the region, and hosts of a quarterly Black & Asian Business Network (BABN) which aims to connect local enterprises and social enterprises.
The Programme builds on SEUK’s Buy Social Corporate Challenge which has seen 20 leading businesses, from PwC to Johnson & Johnson, open up their supply chains to social enterprises. The Regional Programme will seek to replicate the Corporate Challenge at a regional level, working with local businesses and public sector bodies to create new partnerships. West of England based social enterprises will also be given the opportunity to work with companies from the national Corporate Challenge programme who have operations in the surrounding area.
Commenting on being selected for the Programme, Director of BSWN Sado Jirde said:
“Social entrepreneurialism is the life blood of Bristol and migrant communities. This represents a major opportunity to create new inclusive operational models that can achieve a vibrant, sustainable and economically viable community-led sector. A real game changer for many of Bristol’s communities, driven by committed partners. We are confident this investment will open doors, to support what we have and encourage new talent, and bring forward the fruits of lasting social change. Combining our research and evidence led approach with people’s knowledge, skills, passion and investment can truly unlock the transformation we all seek.”
Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK added:
“Social enterprises are at the centre of their communities – taking on local issues, creating jobs and opportunities where they are needed most and pushing a different model of doing business based on reducing inequalities whilst driving growth at a local level. They are transforming the places they work but often need help accessing markets. The Buy Social Regional Programme will support social enterprises in West of England West of England and North Somerset to win more customers and, in doing so, increase their impact.”
Joe Ray, People's Postcode Lottery's Social Investment & Innovation Advisor commented:
“I am really pleased that funding raised by our players is supporting the Buy Social Regional Programme through the Postcode Innovation Trust’s Social Enterprise Support Programme. Our goal is to support social enterprises to innovate and develop solutions to the big challenges that face society. We know social enterprises are working hard to meet these challenges but often need help accessing new markets and building the connections to help them flourish. This programme will bring them together with key buyers in their local area, growing the social enterprise ecosystem and placing social enterprise at the heart of local economic development.”
For more information about the Buy Social Regional Programme in the West of England and North Somerset, please contact Sibusiso Tshabalala on businesssupport@bswn.org.uk. For more information about the programme nationally and the buy social corporate challenge contact shehan.perera@socialenterprise.org.uk | 020 3589 4949 / 07910 222409.