The third Thursday in November each year marks Social Enterprise Day, which is a day to raise awareness of social enterprises and the work that they do. At Minds Ahead, we’re extremely proud to be a social enterprise and we thought we’d explain a little bit about the work that we do to revolutionise mental health in schools and colleges, as well as what social enterprises are and how they work.
Minds Ahead is recognised as being a high-performing social enterprise
Minds Ahead is a Community Interest Company (CIC), which is the legal structure for a social enterprise in the UK. We are a social enterprise for three clear reasons: to drive social improvements, to be entrepreneurial and to be held to account for achieving these goals. You can read more about each of these elements in more detail here.
We have won several awards in recognition of our work as an innovative social enterprise, and are members of Social Enterprise UK and PWC Social Entrepreneurs Club. See the full list of our awards and supporting organisations here.
A message from our CEO, Dean Johnstone
We asked our CEO, Dean Johnstone, to explain why he felt it was important for Minds Ahead to be a social enterprise.
“Being a social enterprise is key to who we are. We test the worthiness of our services by ensuring that schools and educators value them and are, therefore, prepared to pay for them. We do not rely on grants or charity donations. At the same time, and equally important, what we do adds social value and makes a difference. We know that schools want both - good value services where they, as customers, are rightly placed at the forefront of our minds; and a relentless focus on improving mental health in education.”
What is a social enterprise?
Social enterprises are businesses that trade for a social or environmental purpose (SEUK, 2022). They prioritise people and our planet, and contribute to improving social justice, reducing economic inequality and to the sustainability of our environment. One key thing about social enterprises is that they don’t create profit for shareholders. Instead, the majority of profit made goes back into the business to help it grow and further their mission (Social Enterprise Mark CIC, 2022).
Social enterprises differ slightly around the world according to where they are based. If you’re interested in finding out more about this, watch this video from Strategy Made Simple (2020).
The global movement of social enterprises
Social enterprises are hugely significant globally, and research from Social Enterprise UK and the British Council has attempted to calculate the number of social enterprises around the world (SEUK, 2022). It is challenging to calculate, but they estimate that there could be around 11 million social enterprises around the world.
Here in the UK, there are currently more than 100,000 social enterprises. These businesses contribute £60 billion to the economy and employ around two million people (SEUK, 2022).
Further research from Social Enterprise UK in 2021 also showed that despite the numerous challenges faced by social enterprises following the Covid-19 pandemic, ‘social enterprises are delivering economically, environmentally and socially’ (Social Enterprise UK, 2021.). You can read the full report titled ‘No Going Back’ here.
Find out more about our programmes
If you’re interested in finding out more about our programmes, simply click on the links below. If you have any questions or queries, please email us at info@mindsahead.org.uk or contact us via our contact page.
Share this on social media:
References and further reading
Social Enterprise UK (2021), ‘No Going Back’, [online] available from: https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/app/uploads/2022/05/State-of-Social-Enterprise-Survey-2021-compressed.pdf (accessed 15/11/22).
Social Enterprise UK (2022), ‘All About Social Enterprise’, [online] available from: https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/all-about-social-enterprise/ (accessed 8/11/22).
Social Enterprise Mark CIC (2022), ‘What Is Social Enterprise?’, [online] available from: https://www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/what-is-social-enterprise/ (accessed 15/11/22).
Strategy Made Simple (2020) ‘Defining Social Enterprise’ [online], Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEtw5ve8Eqw (accessed 8/11/22).
