£5m Merseyside project supports social enterprise » Communities » 24dash.com

A  £5m project will help social enterprises, community and voluntary groups on Merseyside to become more entrepreneurial.

The  ‘third sector’ organisations will receive support, training and advice from  the Merseyside Single Procurement Vision (MSPV), an initiative led by PLUS  Housing  Group in partnership with South Sefton Development Trust and Riverside  Group. 

The project is supported by investment from the partners and European Objective One funding.

MSPV will help organisations to move away from grant dependency towards income generation. 

Support will include networking events to bring businesses and buyers  together, bespoke training packages and one-to-one business development advice.

Businesses will be encouraged to join forces to bid for major contracts and a new Chamber of Social Entrepreneurship for Merseyside is planned.

Gerard Murden, Enterprise Director for PLUS Housing Group, said: “We are passionate  about  the potential for community-based businesses to develop, grow  and  contribute  to  the  local  economy. This is an innovative and exciting project  that will help social  enterprises to become  more competitive and win major contracts.”

Cate  Murphy,  General  Manager  of  South Sefton Development Trust, added: “MSPV  is  all  about  strengthening  third sector enterprises and boosting their  capacity to deliver income-generating goods and services. The result will be significant levels of new trading activity and the creation of many new jobs in an expanded, vibrant third sector on Merseyside.”

The project will be officially launched at the Plaza Cinema, Waterloo today (Friday).

Speakers include Richard Nutter, Director of the Merseyside Objective One Programme and Councillor Richard Kemp, Chair of PLUS Housing Group.

For more information about the Merseyside Single Procurement Vision (MSPV) please e-mail info@mspv.co.uk.

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