Social Firms UK

Good Deals 2011, the UK’s leading social investment conference returns to the Barbican Centre, London on Thursday 24 November.

The agenda is packed full of useful workshops to help social enterprises grow and gain investment, and microfinance pioneer and serial social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus will be guest of honour.

There'll be a fantastic mix of delegates made up of social enterprises, investors and corporate innovators. See the full programme online.

Book you ticket now to avoid disappointment: www.good-dealsuk.com

 Applications for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) funding have always been fiercely competitive and never more so than at present. With a large number of innovative projects across a range of industries vying for each year’s allocation, it is worth noting that only a small number of them come from the third sector. Therefore, Social Firms UK being awarded one in partnership with Middlesex University is a clear acknowledgement of the relevance and benefit the project will have within the sector.

The funding will be used to recruit a graduate Research Associate for one year to assess the business success factors in establishing and running a Social Firm – an important hire in the current economic climate.

The project aims are threefold:

 Social enterprises are outperforming the rest of the UK economy in terms of growth, according to the RBS SE1001 Index unveiled at an event in London this week.

According to the index, which was set up to track the performance of the sector in the UK, the top 100 social enterprises in the index grew on average by 91% (compared to 79% last year).

Meanwhile, the total combined revenue of the top 100 enterprises on the index grew by 51% and the revenue growth of all those on the index who submitted figures was 14%. This compares well with revenue growth of the FTSE 100 in 20103, which was around 5%. It also compares well against the fastest recorded growth period of UK SMEs4 (in 2006) when their revenue growth was 8.4%.

This year a total of 409 social enterprises entered the RBS SE100 Index and 18 organisations were shortlisted across three awards.

Life Changing Retailers Launch Major New ‘Big Society’ Initiative

UK Consumers get a radically new choice across a whole range of goods and services from Tuesday 24th May 2011. An enterprising group of over 180 companies covering the length and breadth of the UK are launching a major new retail initiative - Just Buy.

The unique aspect of Just Buy is that every supplier is in business for good. The Just Buy directory is made up of social enterprises that predominantly employ staff who have a disability, sensory impairment, mental health problem or face some other serious disadvantage when it comes to getting a job.

Just Buy will be formally launched at an event at one of their member charities HQ – Clarity Employment for Blind People, 276 York Way LONDON at 11.00am on Tuesday 24th May 2011.