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Social Enterprise Coalition activity 
Social enterprise event draws political and business leaders to the capital Political, business and society leaders including Vince Cable, Andrew Lansley, Nick Hurd, Arthur Potts-Dawson, Lucy Siegle and Matthew Taylor gathered at Voice11 last week to be part of the UK's biggest social enterprise event. Voice is the Social Enterprise Coalition’s annual event and was this year supported by O2. It was the first time Voice has been held in the capital and more than 1,300 delegates and over 100 exhibitors came together to create a bustling marketplace within The O2 venue. Highlights included a series of thought-provoking debates on topics including public services and CSR. Delegates could also choose from a programme of more than 20 practical workshops offering business advice to people at all stages of their social enterprise journey. UnLtd were there to launch their Big Venture Challenge, a new competition to find the 25 most ambitious social entrepreneurs in England, and RSM Tenon also chose Voice11 as the location to announce their offer of £100,000 of bespoke consultancy to up to 10 social enterprises. View pictures from the event on the SEC Flickr page.
Top UK social enterprises celebrate at the Social Enterprise Awards The UK winners of the Social Enterprise Awards celebrated last week at the grand final of the national competition to celebrate the best and most inspiring social enterprises in the country. The ceremony, which took place at the indigO2 and was hosted by actor and comedian Alexander Armstrong, saw 25 finalists compete across seven categories. The Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband, attended to give a speech and present one of the seven awards. Speaking after the event, Peter Holbrook, CEO of the Social Enterprise Coalition, said: “It was an emotional and uplifting evening. The Social Enterprise Awards are an opportunity to take the time to celebrate everything that social enterprise is doing to improve the lives of people across Britain and their communities. The seven winners are to be congratulated on their remarkable success. Nights like this help remind us what social enterprise is all about, and the passion and innovation shown by all our finalists is truly inspiring.” The winners: - Social Enterprise of the Year – Newington Credit Union, Northern Ireland
- Social Enterprise Start up of the Year – Vi-Ability Educational Programme, Wales
- Social Enterprise Leader of the Year – John McMullen, Bryson Charitable Group, Northern Ireland
- Young Person’s Social Enterprise of the Year – Stonelaw High School, Scotland
- Social Enterprise Partner of the Year – West Lindsey District Council, England
- Social Enterprise Mark Holder of the Year – GLL, London
- Social Enterprise Unsung Hero – Alasdair Nicholson, Third Sector Hebrides, Scotland
Photos from the event can be viewd now on the SEC Flickr page.
Social Enterprise Emerging Leaders Programme underway! The Social Enterprise Coalition’s Social Enterprise Emerging Leaders Programme started with a Development Day in Milton Keynes. For their second session, the group of leaders visited the Healthy Hub CIC in Lincoln. The group spent half the day in the company of Rebecca Dray CEO who gave a tour of their two sites, and answered questions on their growth, successes and failures. These visits are a key component of the programme being delivered by Real Partners CIC as it gives the course participants the chance to see and feel real leadership in action. The group is back in Milton Keynes on the 7 April for the third session where the focus will be on winning resources and support for your social enterprise, tools and techniques for building strategic alliances and influencing key stakeholders, developing effective customer focussed strategies, how effective community working has helped build a successful social enterprise, recruiting, building and sustaining a high performance team. Speakers will include Karen Lowthrop from Hill Holt Wood and Alastair Wilson from The School for Social Entrepreneurs. For more information on the course visit the Business Support area of the SEC website.
Social Enterprise Coalition supports co-operative petition The Social Enterprise Coalition has joined an alliance of co-operative businesses and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to support a new petition launched on Monday 4 April outside the Bank of England. The first of its kind, the petition calls for co-operative action to narrow the gap between rich and the poor in the UK. It was launched outside the Bank of England by leading figures from the co-operative sector including Len Wardle, Chair of the Co-operative Group and Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Co-operatives UK. The petition is being launched in the run up to Co-operatives Fortnight (25 June to 9 July 2011), the co-operative sector’s national campaign. With its theme of Yours to Share. The Fortnight is supported by co-operatives across the UK – businesses that give everyday employees, customers and residents an equal say in decisions and a share in the profits.
News 
Minister gets 207 bus to Action Acton to launch new Government Work Programme for unemployed Chris Grayling Minister for Employment and Lord Freud (Government Advisor) took the 207 bus from to SEC member Action Acton’s job search centre in West London to officially launch the new Government Work Programme. They spent two hours talking to staff and 15 unemployed individuals to hear about the support provided by Action Acton and listened to the views of those most affected by unemployment. The Minister also informed Action Acton that they had been successful in winning sub contracts with two out of the three prime contractors for West London. John Blackmore, Chief Executive of Action Acton said: 'Mr Grayling and Lord Freud were very impressed by their discussions with Action Acton staff and the local unemployed people Action Acton works with. We would like to meet with as many employers as possible to see how we can help them fill their vacancies’ . Rod Cahill, Chair of Action Acton said: ‘We were delighted to hear that Action Acton’s work over the years helping unemployed residents to get Jobs has been recognized at such a high level. Winning these new contracts under the national Work Programme shows that the voluntary sector has a key part to play.'
Social Enterprise Coalition member, Inside Job Productions, wins big at International Awards Inside Job Productions (IJP), a London based production company making ‘great films with a purpose’, have won two Bronze prizes at the World’s largest and most prestigious celebration of the best in corporate and public sector communication, the IVCA 2011 Awards. A small social enterprise, IJP’s films get to the heart of important issues in informative and stylish productions that rival the big boys of the production world. All the company's profits go to funding projects that use media to empower isolated communities and an innovative training programme for serving prisoners. IJP’s Managing Director, Naomi Delap said: 'IJP’s resounding success illustrates that big budgets are not an essential necessity in making great films with impact.' Now in their 23rd year, the IVCA (International Visual and Communications Association) awards were established to recognize effective corporate and public sector communications in video, interactive projects, business television and digital media. Commenting on IJP’s double success, Marco Forgione, IVCA Chief Executive said: 'Congratulations to IJP for their innovative and much deserved award-winning entries. The judges were impressed by the high calibre of skills, originality and expertise displayed.' He added that they’d described 'Making a Fresh Start' as 'a relevant and memorable film.'
Social enterprise events company launches at Voice11 A new social enterprise events company celebrated its launch at Voice11. Sensevents is an events company with social value and sustainability at its heart, championing the social enterprise supply chain and the use of sustainable materials. True to their mission, Sensevents sourced their launch cake from the social enterprise Wintercomfort for the Homeless in Cambridgeshire. Peter Holbrook, CEO of the Social Enterprise Coalition joined the Sensevents team to cut the launch cake in the Live Quarter of Voice11 at The O2 (pictured above with Sensevents CEO, Rebecca Howard). As well as creating sustainable events, Sesnsevents will give back at least 50% of its profits via its Good Sense Fund. Every year the Good Sense Fund will be available to social enterprises, third sector and charitable organisations to help build capacity, enhance their communications and engagement, and become more sustainable. Sensevents was created by Cynergy, a multi-award winning events and communications agency based in Stokesley in the north east of England. To find out more about them visit their website.
A call for help : 100 young people into 100 social enterprises With the recent announcement that the youth unemployment rate has hit at 20.5 per cent, the highest figures since records began in 1992, Community Interest Company Striding Out has launched a campaign that they hope will make a significant difference. Striding Out launched their Future Pioneer Campaign at Social Enterprise Coalition event Voice11 this week, by securing 34 new pledges for jobs for young people within one day. But with a campaign target of 100 jobs within social businesses between April and June 2011, there are still 66 places to be found. They are looking for employers who can offer six month job opportunities to school leavers or graduates as part of one of the following programmes:- Apprenticeships Companies looking for an employee to undertake business administration or customer service roles then an apprentice could be perfect for you. An employer pays just £400 a month for a school-leaver on an apprenticeship programme. The apprentice works 4 days for the employer and spends 1 day a week in training learning essential new skills relevant to their role. Aspire to Lead If you are looking for a graduate who is skilled and resourceful to help lead a new project or campaign then the Aspire to Lead programme could be right for you. Alongside the six month employment opportunity, the graduate also takes part in our Leadership Development Programme accredited a Level 3 Leadership and Management Qualification from the Institute of Leadership and Management Qualification. To request further details about either of these programmes, visit the Striding Out website.
Consultations 
The Future of Financial Reporting At his Mansion House speech on 3rd March, Secretary of State for Business and Innovation Vince Cable outlined the Government's work in growing the economy. He also encouraged small and medium sized businesses to respond to the Accounting Standards Board’s consultation ‘The Future of Financial Reporting’. This closes on 30th April 2011. The outcome of this consultation will particularly affect the complexity of financial reporting requirements for 35,000 medium sized companies. View the consultation here.
Events 
S2S Social Enterprise Fair 2011 20 April 2011 Edinburgh S2S offers attendees and exhibitors a dynamic, busy and productive environment where social enterprise organisations can meet, trade, collaborate and develop partnerships with public and private sector delegates and with each other. Book places and stands can be booked from Joanne Lynn at joanne@eventconsultants.com or 0131 557 5767. Group ticketing deals are also available. S2S is run by the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition. For more information visit the event website.
Catch the wave: Getting on board with social entrepreneurship 17 May Dublin This conference is aimed at social entrepreneurs, policymakers and change makers. The keynote speaker will be Jeff Boschee, Founder and Director of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurs The conference is hosted by WINSENT Wales and Ireland Network for social Entrepreneurship and supported by the American Embassy (Dublin) and will be followed by a drinks and canapés reception 18:00 till 20:00 For more information visit www.catchthewave.ie.
Resources 
Innovation Launch Pad The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has announced that the Innovation Launch Pad, launched on 28 March 2011, will enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to pitch their ideas on how they could deliver better value for money in the delivery of Government's business. The best ideas will be picked by civil servants and, after intensive mentoring, those that demonstrate the highest impact will be invited to present their ideas at a Product Surgery in the summer. Downing Street will host a reception for those with the best ideas. Information about the Innovation Launch Pad can be found here. The Innovation Launch Pad itself can be found here.
Sanofi-aventis launch new Patient Group Bursary Sanofi-aventis is strengthening its support for patient groups in the UK with the launch of a new Patient Group Bursary which will award two successful groups a grant of £25,000 each. The scheme invites applications from patient groups in the broadest sense, be they local groups, voluntary groups, or social enterprises in any of three following categories: - Developing capacity to deliver health services in the NHS
- Improving and promoting patient empowerment and information
- Reducing health inequalities
Applications for the scheme are now open and will close on 20 April. For more information visit the website.
Member profile 
Periplus Home Education Periplus Home Education is a provider of high quality, accessible learning solutions for young people aged 11-18. Their social mission is to make learning accessible, flexible and enjoyable for every individual by working with their unique abilities and guiding them through a highly personal educational experience. Periplus Home Education aim to provide students with the essential skill of how to learn, not what to learn, and to make home education a viable choice for any family. www.periplus.org.uk
Jobs 
Advertise your social enterprise job here! Advertise and search for jobs on the number one social enterprise job page. Social Enterprise Coalition members get great deals on advertising rates and it's easy to get your job uploaded to allow you to focus on running your business. For more information email James Yabut at james.yabut@socialenterprise.org.uk or visit our job page.
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