The big issue- social enterprise

Social enterprise

Social enterprises are businesses that put the interests of people and planet ahead of shareholder gain. These businesses are driven by a social/environmental mission and reinvest profits into creating positive social change.

At SEUK’s last count, there were 100,000 social enterprises in the UK that contributed £60 billion to the economy.

The Big Issue, the Eden Project and Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen are examples of social enterprises. So are award-winners Divine Chocolate, a fair-trade chocolate company co-owned by the cocoa farmers' cooperative KuapaKokoo in Ghana and Timewise, which connects professionals with flexible employment opportunities. Social enterprises operate in a range of industries, here's some you may have heard of… Cafédirect is the UK's largest Fairtrade hot drinks company. Elvis & Kresse takes industrial waste materials, turns them into stylish luggage and handbags and donates 50% of the profits to the Fire Fighters Charity. Hill Holt Wood educates at-risk youth in an ancient woodland. CSH Surrey is a pioneering social enterprise in the healthcare world that is run by the nursing and therapy teams it employs

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The Big Issue is a social enterprise, existing to help homeless and vulnerable housed people help themselves. Their catchphrase being ‘A hand up not a handout.’ As they sell these magazines to these people for £1.50 and they will go and sell it for £3 which allows them to profit and earn a living off it.

Since 1991, they have helped over 92,000 vendors earn £115 million.