The Scottish Government announced this week the consortium* of business consultancy specialists led by CEIS and including Social Enterprise Academy, Firstport, Impact Hub Inverness and CEMVO will continue to deliver the Just Enterprise contract.
The announcement follows a competitive tender process won by the Just Enterprise consortium. CEIS CEO Gerry Higgins said
“Following the positive independent evaluation** of Just Enterprise last summer, we were delighted that our recent bid to continue to deliver these key services was successful. As social enterprises ourselves we know the challenges for our clients in balancing income generation with social impact and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners across Scotland to deliver an innovative and effective programme of business support to the third sector.”
Previous iterations of the programme led by the same team since 2014 to date has seen the consortium engage with over 5000 organisations and almost 10,000 individuals across all 32 local authority areas in Scotland. Reported benefits include increased employment, better business and strategic planning, greater sustainability and resilience, and more efficient working practices.
Hey Girls! received Just Enterprise support in 2018. CEO Celia Hodson said:
“Just Enterprise enabled us, as a new social enterprise with ambitious growth aspirations, to bid for and win a significant government contract that boosted our organisation’s turnover, credibility and profile. We simply wouldn’t have been in a position to bid for this without the Just Enterprise support.”
Just Enterprise will provide fully funded business support including start up specific advice, internationally recognised leadership development programmes, marketing strategies, income generation, tendering and procurement, financial systems, business planning and impact measurement in the form of tailored one to one consultancy and learning opportunities.
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said:
“The social enterprise sector contributes over £2 billion to the economy every year and employs over 80,000 people so it is vital that they are able to access the support and advice they need to succeed. Social entrepreneurs are driven by a passion to improve their local communities and provide a service for the greater good. They benefit and support people, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, and create jobs in the process. It is essential we continue to support their vision to create a better and fairer Scotland.”
The full programme of support will launch in August, but interested organisations are urged to register their interest via www.justenterprise.org now.
*The Just Enterprise Consortium partners are: CEIS, Social Enterprise Academy, Impact Hub Inverness, Firstport, Lanarkshire Enterprise Services Ltd, Inspiralba, Community Enterprise Ltd, Forth Sector Development, CEMVO Scotland and Social Value Lab.
**The full evaluation of the previous Just Enterprise programme is available here https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-business-support-third-sector-organisations-contract-research-findings/