Cabinet Office
Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, today announced that a consortium headed by the Social Enterprise Coaliton will develop and deliver the Government's exciting new programme to create at least 20 ambassadors for social enterprise.
The consortium brings together key players from across the social enterprise movement with leading agencies in media relations, training and innovation to deliver the ambassadors programme, which will be funded by the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office.
The consortium is being led by the sector's leading representative body, the Social Enterprise Coalition [External website], and will include:
The ambassadors will raise awareness of social enterprise and aim to attract new people to the sector. They are likely to be established social entrepreneurs who can be dynamic advocates for kind of social and environmental change that social enterprise can achieve with key audiences from classrooms to boardrooms.
Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, said:
“Social enterprise is a growing movement, but still only one in four people know about it. That means we are missing out on potential entrepreneurs, customers, and investors. That has to change.
“The successful consortium are an unprecedented example of collaborative type working in this sector, and we look forward to working with them on this innovative and ambitious programme to spread the message of what social enterprise can achieve. Through their own stories and networks, the ambassadors will add momentum to the social enterprise movement and enable it to achieve even more.”
Jonathan Bland, Chief Executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition, said:
“The Social Enterprise Coalition and the rest of the consortium are delighted to have been chosen to run this extremely exciting programme.
“As we all already work closely with a number of social enterprise champions we were able to pledge to go over and above the original requirements to make the Cabinet Office an offer they couldn't refuse. We have now signed an innovative contract but delivery details are being kept under wraps until our big launch later in the summer, so watch this space.”
The ambassadors programme was first proposed in the Government's Social Enterprise Action Plan last November, and has been developed in close partnership with the sector throughout.
The consortium will find the ambassadors through an open and transparent process, and will provide further detail at their programme launch later this summer.
For more information about the programme, please contact the Social Enterprise Coalition on 020 7793 2324.