Unlocking your Social Enterprise Success

In an era where business success is no longer solely measured by profit margins, but increasingly by the positive impact an organisation can make on society, social enterprises have emerged as the unsung heroes. They are driven by a passion for change, a vision to do good, and a need to build a better, fairer world.

At Mantle, we recognise the power and potential of social enterprise as a business model. We believe that these businesses can have incredible impact in the communities they serve, whilst demonstrating strong and ethical business practices. In theory, it seems simple - businesses that not only connect with ethics, but live and breathe them. But in practice, we know from our own experience of running social enterprises and supporting others, that it isn’t always that simple and there are many complexities along the way. 

For start-ups the first one is working out which legal structure to take that will facilitate your business to grow rather than hindering it. For those looking at growth it becomes about how to bring investment into the company and often how to move from basic sustainability to profit that can drive growth. In addition to the practical complexities, many founders begin their social enterprise because they see a problem in society and believe they have the passion, drive and often lived experience to be able to solve it. Founders come from a place of passion above all else, often meaning that those leading the organisation actually have little experience in business or the wider voluntary sector (is this sounding familiar?). Without the right guidance for these social entrepreneurs and founders the social enterprise is at risk of not being sustainable, eventually discouraging the leadership and making them question their original idea. 

When this happens it’s a shame, because more often than not the idea behind the social enterprise is a good one. It could often change things for the better and the passion is infectious at the beginning of the journey (we have felt this ourselves, we get it!). So how can we make sure these social enterprises become viable? How can we turn what may have started as a passion project into a fully fledged functioning social enterprise that thinks and behaves like a sustainable business?

Here at Mantle we have several key areas that we believe are important for social entrepreneurs and social enterprise leaders to understand in order to be able to move closer to sustainability. We guide you through these areas supporting you to implement what you need in order to start building success in your work. With years of experience and seeing organisations fall at the same hurdles we know that in looking at these key issues, social enterprises can grow, build and thrive in ways that other business models can’t. 

Social enterprises have shown that they can thrive as businesses in times of adversity when other businesses are finding it difficult to diversify or connect with the local community. You only need to look at the statistics from Social Enterprise UK during and immediately after COVID-19 to see the increase of demand for social enterprise as a model for business (https://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/seuk-report/one-year-on-the-effect-of-covid-19-on-the-social-enterprise-sector). With a rise in consumer interest and an increase in registered Community Interest Companies (a legal model for social enterprises), social enterprise is clearly here to stay.

So how do we make sure that these same organisations are nurtured, guided and supported to become credible businesses that are thriving and giving back to the communities they serve? For us at Mantle, we do this by coming alongside those running the social enterprise and acknowledging the difficulties that are often faced early in the journey, not only within the social enterprise but also by the individuals in managing their workloads, mental health and personal boundaries. Fundamentally we believe that you need to take care of yourself as a leader before you can take care of a team, beneficiaries, customers or your local community. Our processes with our social enterprise leaders takes all of the above into account and builds on the fundamentals. 

One way that we do this is through our Social Enterprise Accelerator: Starting your Leadership Voyage. Through joining the accelerator you become part of a wider community of others on their journey, learning from each other as well as our Co-Founders Jodie and Fran. Jodie and Fran take you through 8 key areas that we know will support you to move towards sustainability;

• Refining the problem you are solving. 
• Defining your social impact clearly
• Developing a Theory of Change
• Understanding potential funding models
• Aligning your financial goals with your social mission
• Being clear on your business model
• Developing financial sustainability
• Build resilience to overcome challenges.

Through a series of online live events, recordings, challenges and resources the accelerator aims to make you confident in understanding the fundamentals of social enterprise so that you can continue on your journey knowing that you have been put onto the right path to be able to build on your successes and help your social enterprise to move forward. 

If you’ve come to the end of this blog and started to feel excited about the possibilities there are for you and your social enterprise, join our accelerator program today and keep that passion flowing. Maybe you are struggling to know how to turn your passion project into that fully fledged social enterprise I mentioned earlier. If this is you, be sure to take advantage of our half price deal for the accelerator starting on 13th November 2023 and book on today. We would love for you to join our community so that we can guide you towards your success and support you with understanding the business side of things for your social enterprise.

To find out about out Accelerator program for social enterprises just click here.

Blog written by Co-Owner and Director Jodie Marshall