The boom of social startups

According to the Social Enterprise UK report, social entrepreneurship is taking over the country. Social enterprise has three-times the start-up rate of the mainstream SMEs. 38% of social enterprises have a female leader, compared with 19% of SMEs

di Staff

It’s a golden moment for the UK non-profit sector. According to the Social Enterprise UK report, social entrepreneurship is taking over the country. Close to a third of all social enterprises are three years old or younger, with three times the start-up proportion of traditional SMEs. The last Social Enterprise UK report was run in 2011, since then, the business optimism has improved, with 63% of respondents expecting their turnover to increase in the next two to three years – compared with 57% two years ago. Common indicators of business success – growth, optimism and innovation – are very healthy among social enterprises compared with mainstream businesses. Social enterprises are more likely than SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to report that their turnover has grown in the last year. The report however reveals that the sector is not, of course, immune to the country’s economic problems. These survey results show an overall reduction in the sector’s median turnover in the last two years. Among the main barriers to growth and sustainability there is public procurement policy. The Social Enterprise UK report explains the booming of social startups as a generational phenomenon, related to young people’s attitudes to business and civic duty. The creation of so many new startups can also be explained by the economic decline, as start-ups traditionally increase during a recession; and partly due to a shift in the plates of the UK economy – as the traditional boundaries between private, public and voluntary sectors blur. 
38% of social enterprises saw an increase in turnover compared with 29% of SMEs. This means that proportionally, turnover compared with 29% of SMEs, in the last year, which means that proportionally, almost a third more social enterprises grew based on turnover last year than SMEs.
From the report we can see that social enterprises are more likely to be led by women than mainstream businesses. 38% of social enterprises have a female leader, compared with 19% of SMEs and 3% of FTSE 100 companies. 91% of social enterprises have at least one woman on their leadership team. 49% of mainstream SMEs have all-male directors.
 


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