Our friends and followers will know what it means to Positive About Inclusion to be a social enterprise, we take our social enterprise credentials very seriously. We are proud to be members of Social Enterprise UK, the biggest network of social enterprises in the UK.
A few weeks ago we had the enormous pleasure of winning their monthly raffle. We were blown away by the quality and diversity of the products and services being donated by our fellow social entrepreneurs around the country.
Companies like Madlug CIC – their motto is ‘Buy one, give one: with every bag you purchase, a pack-away travel bag will be given to a child in care.’ Or the amazing Pivot, empowering people experiencing homelessness and living in temporary accommodation by supporting them to make handcrafted jewellery – all of which can be made at a desk with minimal tools and training.
Closer to home we continue to be inspired by the fellow north east social enterprise The Skill Mill, providing employment for young ex–offenders in watercourse and horticulture services. You may have seen their recent announcement of being awarded two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise ‘gongs’ in the Sustainable Development and Supporting People categories. As they say
“Not bad for a small #socialenterprise flying the flag for the North East and now reaching across the length of England. It has been a horrendous past 12 months for everyone and especially for small business. Skill Mill has survived and indeed grown. This is thanks to the enormous support from our partners and staff, especially the young people we have employed rising to the opportunity.”
In announcing the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng said
“In the last 12 months, British businesses showed the entrepreneurial spirit that this country is renowned for, continuing to drive social mobility, find new markets to export to and produce innovative products and services.”
Social enterprises are all about driving social mobility and delivering a social mission. Positive About Inclusion is no exception. We are:
- Designing and delivering training on sexual orientation and gender identity to self advocacy groups for people with autism and learning disabilities.
- Providing free advice and guidance to our network, many of whom are working within the public and third sectors both individually and through the sharing of resources such as webinars and blogs.
- Individually my fellow Director Lucy and I continue to do our bit to add value by volunteering as Coaches and Mentors – Lucy for the 1 Hour Project that works to level the playing field for graduates and I work with young girls as part of The Girl’s Network who aim to inspire and empower girls from the least advantaged communities by connecting them to a mentor and a network of professional female role models.
And it doesn’t stop there – we work with clients to embed equality, diversity and inclusion consideration into their supply chain. And we do the same by choosing our own supply chain of suppliers and contractors with great care and spending with fellow social enterprises whenever we can. How many social enterprises can say that their accountant is also a social enterprise?
As Ed Mayo, Chief Executive of Pilotlight (an award-winning charity and social enterprise that connects businesses with charitable organisations) said in a recent article
“It seems simple enough; social enterprises should trade together more. It is a bootstrap way to build a social economy and emerging from the pandemic, we need to pull together to build back better. To go fast, the saying goes, you should travel alone. But to go far, you should travel together.“
And Positive About Inclusion is all about travelling the inclusivity journey together.
