Duo provide support boost for growing Social Enterprise sector in the West Midlands

The economy needs social enterprise more than ever according to two experts at a specialist support organisation for the sector.

Laurence Green and Melanie Mills joined the Social Enterprise Centre of Expertise (SECOE) in the Summer and, having spent the initial period researching the sector, today issued a rallying call for the West Midlands to work closer together and continue its desire to compete fairly in an open market.

The duo, who have considerable experience in the public and private sector, were also keen to make sure it did not become ‘trendy’ and that it retained the core values that has seen it become one of the business worlds’ modern day success stories.

“Strong economies have an array of business models operating within them and I don’t think there can be any doubt that social enterprise is one that is increasingly playing a role in helping pull the area out of recession,” explained Laurence, who came through BT’s Graduate and Fast Track Programme.

“It has made tremendous strides in recent years, yet there are a number of major challenges we need to meet head on, not least in making sure the business support available is exactly what the enterprises need. And by this I don’t mean making it specialist just for our sector.”

He went on to add: “The other area I would like to focus on is ensuring our companies strive for excellence and that they use the products and services that make them so unique in a open and competitive marketplace.”

Laurence Green is the Skills Development Broker at SECOE responsible for ensuring consistency and availability of business support advisers and also in promoting the need for personal development in social enterprise.

Melanie, who has run her own company, joins as Business Services Assessor and will use her considerable retail experience to research, summarise and then make recommendations on how to influence future Government enterprise policies and meet any capacity gaps that currently exist.

“I am very excited by this new project and I get a real buzz from talking to people on the ground, listening to what they want and then using my network of contacts to reflect these thoughts and ensure they affect long-term strategy going forward.

“There are some quick wins that are available and we are going to make sure we take these so we start making an immediate impact.”

SECOE, which is part of Social Enterprise West Midlands, works strategically to improve mainstream business support for social enterprises in the region.

Working closely with Business Link West Midlands and other partners, it has money available to fund accredited and non accredited training of business advisors and uses direct feedback to influence the package of support made available.

Kevin Maton, Head of SEWM and SECOE, concluded: “Laurence and Melanie bring a lot of different skill sets to the team and increase our ability to collect and commission more research and to influence enterprise thinking across the region.

“They are both very passionate about social enterprise and I’m delighted we have been able to strengthen the team for the good of the sector as a whole.”

SECoE is one of four Centres of Expertise funded by Advantage West Midlands’ Enterprise Board. The others are focused on minority ethnic, young people and women’s enterprise.