Co-op News October 2019: Sustainable Development

SOCIAL
BUSINESS:
Safeguarding the future of Wales?
Wales is home to 2,022 social businesses, which
together employ 55,000 people and are worth
£3.18bn. These people-centred businesses are going
to be integral to the future of Wales, delegates were
told at the 2019 Social Business Wales conference,
held in Llandudno on 25 September.
“The UK is entering its most challenging
period in decades,” said Jennifer Jones, BBC
presenter and host of the event. “There are new
pressures on businesses and communities in
Wales. But the social business sector is one of the
most resilient.”
Social Businesses Wales (SBW) is a project
providing intensive one-to-one support to social
businesses which are looking to expand or create
jobs. It is funded by the European Regional
Development Fund and the Welsh government and
is being delivered by the Wales Co-operative Centre.
Speaking at the conference, SBW enterprise
director, Glenn Bowen, said social businesses can
have the most impact in communities left behind
by post-industrialisation, austerity and poverty.
“The history books of the future are being written
on a daily basis,” he said. “None of us will know
where this mad rollercoaster of Brexit will end …
But people living in post-industrial communities
where well-paid jobs were close to home now have
to commute further, leaving economically inactive,
vulnerable people alone and isolated, especially in
rural areas. We can’t rely on the jobs we used to rely
on. These communities are struggling for a future.”
Social businesses have a critical role to play
here, he said, in creating services and well paid
jobs within communities.
Mr Bowen added: “Every community needs an
economic anchor to exist. For some that will be
a hospital or a university. For others it will be a
private firm established for generations – although
wouldn’t it be great if more of these firms ended
up in the hands of employees? But for many areas
there are no economic anchor institutions. That’s
where the social business sector comes in. We
know we can create jobs. We have immense power
within this movement to make a difference.”
But, he said, it’s not just about jobs, it’s about
people: “Social businesses are people businesses.
We work with people in communities, we help
them highlight the problems they face and
help them find their own solutions.”
And he thinks the future is exciting. “The policy
agenda is moving into our space for the first
time. The traditional economic model is looking
to do things differently and we can do that. As
a movement we are coming together. And we
have new services: The Social Business Wales
New Start initiative is a £3m project supported by
the EU that is aiming to create 200 businesses in
Wales over the next three years; and the Wales
Co-operative Centre and Creating Enterprise
are launching the Social Enterprise Academy
in Wales, which will provide innovative
learning and development programmes for
leaders of companies, social enterprises and
public bodies.”
But for all of this to make a difference the dots
need joining up. In a video address, Lee Waters,
deputy minister for economy and transport,
stressed the need for a “candid conversation about
what we need to do next”.
“We are entering extremely difficult times … the
message of mutual help, solidarity and working
with communities to stop money leaking out
will be crucial,” he said. “We need to focus on
changing the way these patterns of the economy
work and mainstream the principles of local wealth
building. And we absolutely must urgently address
the way our economy works. Because it’s not
working now.”
WRITTEN BY:
Rebecca Harvey
34 | OCTOBER 2019