I attended the recent Social Enterprise West Midlands (SEWM) event at the ICC, launching their impressive new prospectus for the vision of Social Enterprise over the next decade.
The principal aims of SEWM are to support Social Enterprises influence policy, raise awareness of the sector, improve knowledge and collaborative working and improve access to business support.
The launch of the new prospectus is to demonstrate how businesses can move forward in the region over the next decade.
One of the key points to come out of the opening session was that generally Social Enterprises are not understood (often thought of as a voluntary service), and if nine out of ten people in the street were asked what one was they wouldn’t know, compared to a charity. It was important to me that other business owners recognised this, and this was addressed from the outset.
As a Social Enterprise, The Social Media Partnership understands the importance of people knowing what a Social Enterprise is. In most cases people in the know prefer to purchase from a business that is socially, community and environmentally driven, so it is up to us to communicate to more people outside of the sector and educate businesses, the public and encourage people to start them. The question is how?
It was decided that each of us in the room would tell one person a day, making sure that people will spread the word. Collaboration of our knowledge and bids while still having healthy business competition will also drive awareness of what we do.
SEWM have once again delivered a wonderful and vital publication, one that will no doubt strengthen the knowledge, business and creation of Social Enterprise in the region for many years to come.
Ian Hughes: The Social Media Partnership
Tags: Prospectus, SEWM, Social Enterprise, The Time is Now
