Exciting opportunity for Thanet social enterprises and entrepreneurs!
This support programme is an exciting new initiative that's set to promote and support the growth of social enterprises and social entrepreneurs in Thanet!
We understand that running a social enterprise can be a challenge – that’s why we’re thrilled to offer a fully funded* tailored support programme to help you scale up your existing enterprise or kickstart your social entrepreneur idea. (*eligibility criteria applies)
And that’s not all, accessing the support programme enables you to apply for an Onward Grant of up to £10,000!
Our support programme includes a range of benefits that are designed to help you succeed. From one-to-one mentoring and business support to networking opportunities and access to grants, workshops, advice sessions and events, we’ve got you covered. Our Social Enterprise Advisors are experienced business professionals who are passionate about helping social enterprises and social entrepreneurs achieve their goals. They’ll work with you to develop your business plan, create a marketing strategy, and provide advice on everything from finance to social impact reporting.
This support programme, funded by the UK Government as part of the Social Enterprise Boost Fund, is an exciting initiative that promotes and supports the growth of social enterprises and social entrepreneurs in Thanet!
Eligibility
For the purpose of this programme, social enterprise is defined as either:
an entrepreneur or unregistered organisation who is driven by a social or environmental purpose and can demonstrate a plan to work towards registration within the government definition below or;
a registered social enterprise organisation within the government definition below;
“a social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners”.
A start-up is considered to be an organisation:
Less than 5 years old and;
Turnover of less than £250,000 in their last financial year.
Support will be available to social enterprises delivering activities or services that provide social or environmental benefits within Thanet. However, it is acceptable for projects to also deliver 25% of their activities or services to a wider geographical area of beneficiaries.
Positive Retail Case Study
Anna from Positive Retail shares her experience of how the Thanet Social Enterprise Boost programme has helped her to begin to scale her business, fortifying it for the future.
Thanet Social Enterprise Boost Conference
What our participants say
Your service has been 5/5 for me. Thank you! I've found your support invaluable to me. You have great interpersonal skills, including patience. You have a real talent for explaining business concepts (often quite complex to a business naive person like me). Your templates have really helped me define my business and working through cash flow. Our work together has helped me to feel more confident in my business idea and the possibility that it can work and I am good enough. For all this I am very grateful to you and to SEK for offering this service.
SEK went the extra mile to support my business, by understanding my most pressing challenges and helping me to explore collaboration with another local social entrepreneur.
Before, I felt like I was facing a brick wall, but now I recognise this is an intersection where I can turn left or right to find a way forward.
Working with SEK was both enjoyable and informative. I would even go as far as to say imperative as we have now been awarded a grant with UnLtd and I can say with certainty that without the training that SEK gave me I would have been overwhelmed with the communications and things I've been dealing with. Having a wider viewpoint of how a business, even a social enterprise like ours, needs to operate to be successful has helped now and I don't doubt it will stand me in good stead in the future.
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