11/07/2012
Social Enterprise London announces plan to work more closely with Social Enterprise UK
Social Enterprise London announces plan to work more closely with Social Enterprise UK
Social Enterprise London (SEL) and Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) announced a joint decision to work towards bringing their membership, information and contracting resources together. Their intention is for these activities to be housed at Social Enterprise UK’s headquarters from the end of July. The partners will start work shortly to integrate key activities. They have agreed the move in order to start building the UK's biggest ever social enterprise network. SEL and SEUK are keen to develop a stronger central hub to deliver business support and campaigns to best-serve the needs of the social enterprise movement.
Both partners intend to consult their members and stakeholders about how best to achieve integration. Their aim is to create better knowledge, learning and business networks between London social entrepreneurs and those in other parts of the UK. SEL also announced its intention to create a National Social Enterprise Leaders’ Business Forum, which will be piloted in London with SEL’s 3,200 strong membership later in the year.
Allison Ogden-Newton, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise London, said:
“Funding for regional agencies and business support has gone off a cliff, but the needs of social enterprises and new independent public service deliverers remain SEL’s top priority so we have designed a plan to provide support ahead. Linking up with SEUK will result in a richer network and we’re excited about working together on future projects.”
Peter Holbrook, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, said:
“We are very happy to be working so closely with Social Enterprise London, which has a fantastic reputation for the work it does in the capital. Together we can deliver the very best for our memberships. Too often, national organisations and their London-based counterparts will run similar programmes and projects which can lead to duplication of effort. It’s been refreshing to be in such positive talks and we believe this is a positive outcome for the UK’s growing social enterprise movement.”
Both organisations stressed that they will be consulting their members and other stakeholders following the announcement of their intention to work in collaboration.