What are social enterprises?
Social enterprises are businesses that have a social or environmental purpose at the heart of what they do.
Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen is a good example. It gives young people experience in the restaurant business and gives paying customers fantastic food. Other well known social enterprises include The Big Issue magazine and Divine Chocolate. Read more case studies here.
Social enterprises do this by delivering services to make a profit. Many businesses have social and environmental goals, but social enterprises are different because these aims are just as important as their financial ones.
The social enterprise sector is growing rapidly. There are currently about 62,000 social enterprises in the UK. They employ over 55,000 people and contribute about £28bn to the GDP.
Case studies
There are a myriad of inspiring stories from the thriving social enterprise sector. We've highlighted a few below and we'll be adding more regularly.
There are thousands of social enterprises but if you'd like to learn more then check out the links below.
