What is a Social Enterprise?
Social enterprises are businesses that:
- Trade for social and/or environmental purposes
- Generate at least 50% of their income from trading activity (i.e. selling goods or services)
- Largely reinvest their profits back into the business to achieve their social or environmental goals
- Have governance and legal structures that enable staff, members, representatives from the local community, or other stakeholders to own and run the business.
Well known examples include The Big Issue, Divine Chocolate and Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain Fifteen.
Social enterprises take many forms and operate in just about every industry sector. Take a look at our case studies and short films which convey the key principles of social enterprise businesses and their diverse range of activities.