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Following in the footsteps of The Eden Project… a new generation of social entrepreneurs can change lives

Liam Black, chief executive of Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, and other trailblazing social entrepreneurs joined forces with Ministers today to get young people involved in businesses that change lives.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Cabinet Office Ministers Hilary Armstrong and Ed Miliband praised ‘social enterprises’ for lighting the way toward a fairer society – by using business acumen to tackle social and environmental challenges.

In spite of well known success stories like The Eden Project, The Big Issue or Jamie Oliver's Fifteen, only one in four people know what a social enterprise is¹: a firm founded for a social purpose that reinvests its profits in the company or community.

Recent research shows young people are extremely attracted by the dynamic combination of business skills and social impact². Today an action plan will put social enterprises into the business studies curriculum in schools.

Today's social enterprise action plan will raise awareness of what social enterprises can achieve and invest money in encouraging more people to get involved and make a real difference to people's lives. The plan includes measures to:

• Promote social enterprise within schools, providing curriculum materials and ensuring it is studied in GCSE and A level business studies courses;
• Appoint up to 20 social enterprise ambassadors to be role models for new entrepreneurs across the UK;
• Make over £18m available over the coming years to help knock down barriers to growth and enable social enterprises to thrive;
• Support the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship in promoting social enterprise as a career to young people;
• Research new ways to provide social enterprise learning at tertiary level and review whether existing professional training provisions meet the specific needs of social enterprises;
• Support a marketing campaign to promote social enterprise to young people aged 14–30 (Enterprise Insight's Make Your Mark: Change Lives).

These measures, along with others in the plan by the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office, aim to get a generation of young people thinking about the social impact business can have and the positive difference they can make to people's lives.

By tackling the market failures that currently exist as barriers to growth, this plan will help ensure social enterprise becomes a mainstream option for anyone of any age setting up a business in the UK.

Gordon Brown, Chancellor for the Exchequer, said:

“In my view, social enterprise is the new British business success story, forging a new frontier of enterprise – a quiet revolution involving 55,000 social enterprises in our country from the smallest community groups to larger businesses.”

Hilary Armstrong, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said:

“Social enterprises are having an incredible impact across the UK – from tackling social exclusion to providing opportunities for the young to help shape our communities. Today's Action Plan today puts in place measures to support the inspiring people devoting themselves to using business acumen to change lives for the better up and down the country.”

Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, said:

“From classrooms to boardrooms, people need to know what social enterprise is and what it can achieve. That is why we are launching this Action Plan today – to shine a light on a movement that is at the vanguard of social change and enable it to continue to grow and thrive.”

Government is supporting events through the day to help promote social enterprise, including the launch of Make Your Mark with a Tenner – a competition where 10,000 teenagers are given £10 to prove they are tomorrow's socially–minded entrepreneurs.

Welcoming this unique event, Ed Miliband said:

“Make Your Mark with a Tenner hands young people a powerful opportunity to prove to themselves and others what an amazingly powerful and positive impact their actions can have.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. For further information on this story please contact Campbell McDonald at the Cabinet Office Press Office on 020 7276 0311.
2. The Social Enterprise action plan: Scaling New Heights will be available at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/social_enterprise/action_plan/ on Thursday morning. Hard copies of the plan are available to be ordered by phoning 0845 015 0010.
3. For more information about Make Your Mark with a Tenner www.makeyourmarkwithatenner.org [External website] or call 020 7420 7947.
4. The action plan being launched today builds on the first Government strategy, Social Enterprise: a Strategy for Success (2002). That strategy proposed ways to create an enabling environment, to help make social enterprises better businesses and to establish their value. Since the publication of its strategy in 2002, the Government has created a new legal form, the community interest company, improved business support and advice and the availability of finance and supported the establishment of the Social Enterprise Coalition to provide a unified voice for the sector. The Action Plan launched today builds on that work, and outlines the actions that the Government will take in the next phase of its support for social enterprise.
5. In recognition of the increasingly important role the third sector plays in both society and the economy, the Prime Minister announced a new Office of the Third Sector in May 2006. Ed Miliband was appointed as the new Minister for the Third Sector, working in the Cabinet Office to Hilary Armstrong, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. For more information, please go to http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/thirdsector/.

Tel: 020 7276 0311 Fax: 020 7276 0618

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1. Data taken from the DTI 2006 Household Survey
2. Background research carried out by Enterprise Insight