Social enterprise: from CSR to supply chain

29/01/2010

Angela Smith, Minister for the Third Sector, yesterday welcomed the commitment of public and private sector leaders to bringing social enterprises into their supply chains.

The Minister was taking part in a high level discussion with procurement chiefs from the private sector, central and local government and the social enterprise movement, looking at how social enterprises can win more contracts.

Hosted by Social Enterprise London and supported by the London Development Agency, SEL Chief Exec Allison Ogden-Newton welcomed representatives from organisations including PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), RBS, the LDA and social enterprises including Divine Chocolate, Green-Works, GLL and Bikeworks.

Speaking after the event Ogden-Newton said:

“The presence of so many procurement chiefs demonstrates that companies no longer simply see social enterprise as a CSR objective, recognising instead that they represent great business. We are often encouraged to bid for public contracts, and long may it continue. But what really came out of today is that given the freedom the private sector enjoys in picking their suppliers, the fact that so many companies recognise the value in social enterprise represents a massive opportunity. It’s really encouraging that the LDA committed so much time and resource to supporting us on this crucial initiative.”  

Ray Mills, a Partner at PwC said “we have clients worth billions who are actively seeking to buy from social enterprises, recognising the outstanding social value they deliver”.  Rob Knott of the London Development Agency commented that “procurement can achieve far more than just buying goods and services: used effectively it can deliver real social change”. This was welcomed by Colin Crooks, Chief Executive of leading social enterprise Green-Works, who expressed frustration that currently the “world changing bits of my business are never part of the contract”.