What is social enterprise?

Social enterprise is all about combining business with social justice, and using business and enterprise as a force for good and a way of making change. It is estimated that there are over 70,000 social enterprises in the UK, ranging from new start-ups at the grassroots through to large multi-million pound organisations with thousands of employees.

It is a diverse and exciting movement to be part of, and they change people’s lives in lots of different ways: through creating jobs; through preventing environmental waste; through reinvesting profits into community activity; through developing new services to help the most vulnerable. Well-known examples of social enterprises include the Big Issue, Belu Water and Divine Chocolate.

Social enterprises exist in the space between traditional charity and mainstream business.