In Business for Good - 'an enjoyable and thought provoking day'
The In Business for Good conference held last week by the North East Social Enterprise Partnership and the Redcar and Cleveland Enterprise Team proved a success among attendants, who described the event as ‘an enjoyable and thought provoking day’, and praised its ‘relaxed and friendly atmosphere’.
The day featured a number of well attended workshops including ‘Effective Marketing for Social Enterprise’, delivered by Alistair Clarke of Tick the Publicity Box CIC, who guided participants on how to target audiences efficiently and to conduct a successful marketing campaign, and ‘A Co-operative Conversation’ hosted by Judith Brown (Co-operatives North East), which explored the structural differences of co-operatives as compared to other social enterprises, and the move within broader society to want to do business with co-ops.
A number of social enterprises, described as ‘inspirational and motivating’ by one attendee, showcased their business’ achievements including Northumberland based community transport enterprise WATBus and Community Campus ’87, an enterprise that addresses youth homelessness in Teesside. Ian Reeve, manager of Langbaurgh Social Enterprise, a doctor’s cooperative, was present to discuss his business’ ethos of having the principles of social enterprise as key to its approach to healthcare as opposed to just profit. Community interest company Sunderland Dance were also in attendance to showcase their ‘Dare to be’ programme which addresses issues of anti-social behavior amongst young people, and presented an electrifying performance of a mixture of dance and drama focusing on the topic of bullying.
Keynote speaker John Watson of Primrose Community Centre delivered an informative and amusing presentation that encouraged attendants to take advantage of the policies introduced by the new coalition government, and urged them to speak up about issues that need to be raised. Fellow speaker Robert Ashton, the ‘Barefoot Entrepreneur’ also addressed the proposed Conservative-Lib Dem ‘Big Society’, highlighting social enterprise as key to reducing public spending through their close relation to individuals and communities the government sees as a drain on such resources, and emphasised the importance of and opportunities in collaborative partnerships.
All in all a successful day was had by all. Feedback thus far has been positive, highlighting the quality of speakers, workshops and networking opportunities as key to the success of the day, and the North East Social Enterprise Partnership looks forward to being a part of such events in the future.