What is Social Enterprise?

According to the Social Enterprise Coalition, to qualify as a social enterprise a business must be trading to tackle social problems, improve communities, people's life chances or the environment.

It is important to remember, though, that social enterprises are not charities; they are businesses. The products they make and the services they provide are designed around making money, and they intend to profit like any other business.

The difference is that social enterprises aim to make profits only as a means to a social end; money is reinvested to produce social good. This may be by creating jobs for those who would be otherwise unemployed, investing in community projects, protecting the environment or providing vital services to those who might not be considered customers by conventional business.

This combination of doing business and doing good makes social enterprise one of the most exciting and fast growing social movements across the world. To demonstrate the potential, the Big Issue newspaper, Divine Chocolate bars, The Eden Project in St Austell, Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant and the Co-op supermarkets are all examples of highly successful social enterprises.

But there are countless more, the British Social Enterprise scene has exploded in recent years and the market is crying out for a new generation of social innovators and entrepreneurs to use the power of business to do good... that's where you come in.