NESEP Business Support survey reveals interesting findings
The North East Social Enterprise Partnership's (NESEP) Business Support survey, which launched last month, has revealed some interesting findings from participating organisations.
The survey, which aimed to assess what business support social enterprises in the North East need to meet the ever-growing challenges faced by the sector, is designed to give NESEP an idea of how it can best support social enterprise in the region.
Of the 103 participating organisations, 51% were companies limited by guarantee, and 41% were a trading organisation with no or few grants as income. 53% or participants were well established, having been trading for over five years. 56% of participants provided support services, 3% worked in retail and 1% worked in manufacturing.
Beyond structural and area of work information, the NESEP Business Support survey prompted participants to submit which areas of business they needed support in. The five most popular areas were finance, marketing and trading, developing new services or products, networking and partnerships and tendering - a breakdown of which can be found below:
Finance
41% of participants expressed they required advice in this area.
- 21% of these required support with regards to raising money
- 8% wanted help with investments and loans
- 3% required advice with managing money
- 2% needed help with insurance and accountancy
- A further 7% answered 'other' in this section
Marketing and trading
37% or participants highlighted this area as of in need of support.
- 19% of participants wanted help with 'selling' their organisation
- 15% wanted advice on how to sell the benefits of their organisation
- 3% wanted advice on branding
Developing new services or products
24% wanted support and advice in this area.
- 12% wanted help with business or social enterprise planning
- 3% wanted advice on research
- 2% needed help with finding investors
Networks and Partnerships
21% of organisations wanted help with this area of their business.
- 9% need advice on relevant networks
- 8% with regards to partnerships
- 2% require help with social networking
- 2% answered 'other'
Tendering
12% or participants expressed a need for support in tendering for contracts.
- 5% of these needed help in getting ready to tender for contracts
- 1% required support in how to tender
- A further 6% answered 'other'
Karen Wood, Chief Executive of the North East Social Enterprise Partnership, said:
"The North East Social Enterprise Partnership would like to thank participants for their invaluable input which will help us to guide our direction on how best to support social enterprises over the coming months to thrive and survive."