Quarter of New Enterprise Allowance start-ups 'should be social enterprises'
Posted by Dan Martin in Business trends on Wed, 05/01/2011 - 12:34
Of the 40,000 start-ups expected to be created under the government's new scheme to turn the unemployed into entrepreneurs, 10,000 should be developed as social enterprise businesses, a lobby group has said.
Ceri Jones, head of policy at the Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC), said the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA), details of which were unveiled today, is "a very real opportunity for the government to support the growth of the social enterprise business community".
Ministers claim that up to 40,000 new businesses will be created out of the initiative which provides financial support and mentoring for unemployed people to start a company. SEC said 10,000 of those firms should have social aims.
"This scheme is a mechanism through which the government can raise awareness of social enterprise among hopeful entrepreneurs and help transform our communities for the better," Jones added.
"Social enterprises have a vital role to play in the country's economic recovery because they simultaneously tackle social problems like unemployment and crime, or environmental issues, and yet still support financial growth.
"We would like to see the scheme be inclusive of all legal forms that sit under the social enterprise umbrella and facilitate entrepreneurs to get together to form co-operatives."
- 2898 reads
- login or register to post comments
- Add to a social bookmarking site
Dragons' Den judges James Caan and Deborah Meaden and social entrepreneur Karen Darby are some of the successful entrepreneurs who feature in our exclusive videos.