<aside> 🫶 Social Enterprises are not just community businesses; they’re catalysts for change, and they challenge us to rethink the meaning and purpose of entrepreneurship. By prioritising social impact, ethical practices, and sustainability, social enterprises are reshaping industries, empowering communities, and inspiring us all to work toward a more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable future. As supporters, consumers and investors, we have the power to amplify their impact and contribute to driving the transformation our world so desperately needs.
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There’s no single, legal definition of social enterprise in the UK. Definitions vary across the world and even within the UK.
Defining a social enterprise can be a challenge in itself, and many people get themselves tied up in knots around the nuances of legal structures and asset locks. Put simply, I understand the term “social enterprise” to mean any business that aims to make a profit while having a social or environmental impact. In the upper echelons of the business world, government and academia this is sometimes referred to as profit for purpose or having a “triple bottom line”. Social enterprises operate across the globe and across many sectors, from health and social care to food, education, green energy, the creative industries and sport. Many people who are running social enterprises don’t even realise that’s what they’re doing and would never describe themselves as a social entrepreneur. While private companies focus primarily on generating profits for shareholders, social enterprises make it their mission to deliver value to a broad range of stakeholders, including their employees, their communities, and the planet. - Eileen Inglis
According to Social Enterprise Scotland: Social enterprises trade in many markets – selling goods and services to individual consumers, local authorities, government and private businesses. They aim to make a profit just like any private sector business. However, their profits or surpluses are reinvested back into their social and/or environmental purpose.
Social enterprises in Scotland are often recognised as being asset locked so that only the community and society can profit from their work, buildings, land and other assets. Social enterprises must be sustainable in order to meet their social and/or environmental mission. The Voluntary Code of Practice for Social Enterprise in Scotland is a set of guidelines used by some Scottish social enterprises.
Social enterprises are businesses. Like any other business, they seek to make a profit and succeed commercially. They should generate the majority of their operating revenue through trade.
They are trading business – selling goods and services – but whose primary objective is to achieve social and/or environmental benefit. Profits are then reinvested in the business or in the beneficiary community – and not distributed to private owners, shareholders or investors.
No. While any business can take steps to act more ethically and minimise their negative impact, a social enterprise is a business with a social and/or environmental mission as its primary purpose and all profits are reinvested in the business or in the beneficiary community.