What Are Social Enterprises?
Social enterprises are businesses that trade for a social
purpose and include co-operatives, social firms, development trusts, intermediate
labour market companies, community businesses, employee-owned businesses,
credit unions and community finance initiatives.
SEP will also be in two transnational
partnerships, taking part in a wide range of information
exchanges, joint product development, awareness raising, and
exchange visits For members of social enterprises.
Why is this important?
Despite the potential for social
enterprise to contribute to social inclusion there are a number
of well-attested barriers to its growth that
need to be overcome, including lack of awareness and mainstreaming,
A fragile, fragmented and patchy support structure, a need to
widen markets, a lack of evaluative models, inaccessible funding
and legal complexity.
Funding Via Equal
SEP's work is financed by the European Social Fund known as 'Equal'.
Equal is an initiative which tests and promotes new means of combating
all forms of discrimination and inequalities in the labour market,
both for those
in work and for those seeking work, through transnational co-operation.
SEP is an Equal national 'Theme D' project with a focus on social
enterprise.
