Social enterprises are businesses that generate profits through trading activities to address social or environmental issues. They reinvest profits back into their social mission. To start a social enterprise, one must define the business idea and social purpose, conduct research and risk assessments, develop a business plan, choose a legal structure, identify funding sources, and obtain necessary licenses. Successful social enterprises balance customer, financial, and mission needs through diverse income streams to sustain their organizations and maximize social impact. Current economic challenges for social enterprises include a squeezed middle market, high inflation, and reduced disposable income limiting purchases to essentials only.

1. Social Enterprise
Trading Places?

2. What is a Social Enterprise?What is a Social Enterprise?
These are!These are!

3. 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

4. Twelve Steps to Start Up
1. Define your business ideas
2. Define your social or environmental purpose
3. Conduct a risk assessment
4. Conduct market research
5. Select your business model
6. Assess your skills and identify your resources
7. Take professional business, legal and accountancy
advice
8. Develop your business plan
9. Select the best legal form
10.Obtain any necessary permissions/licensing/insurance
11.Identify and secure funding and finance
12.Open a bank account and register with HMRC/VAT

5. Sustainable trading
• Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity
• Balancing customer needs, money and
mission
• Understand the foodchain
• Impact pricing

6. Sustaining organisations
• Balanced income
streams reduce
risks
• Business skills
improve team
performance
• Customer focus
improves retention
and brand loyalty

7. 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

8. Business models
• Manufacture
• Distribution
• Retail
• Services
• Direct or indirect
• Team or sole trader
• Sub-contractor
• Franchise

9. 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)

10. 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)

11. 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?

12. Q&A

13. 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