Good Deals 2016 promises debate and controversy

Julie Pybus

Leading figures in the social innovation world are gathering in Birmingham for the Good Deals Conference 2016, the UK's leading international conference for social enterprises, social investors and social innovation.

The two-day event begins today, Monday 14 November, at the University of Birmingham.

The British Council, NatWest, Social Finance, Big Society Capital, Social Enterprise UK, Big Issue Invest, Ignite and Impact Ventures UK are among the organisations that will lead discussions about the state of social enterprise today, the future of social innovation and more.

Good Deals 2016 provides a unique platform for industry leaders to share their opinions

Keynote speakers include Kenny Ewan, UK winner of the Chivas global social entrepreneurship competition, and Iqbal Wahhab, social entrepreneur and founder of the Roast and Cinnamon Club restaurants.

Tim West, who founded the event nine years ago, said: "As the UK gets to grips with the reality of Brexit, social investors, social enterprises and charities are busy weighing up the opportunities and risks associated with this seismic shift in UK policy. 

"At the same time, government social enterprise policy itself seems to have disappeared down a rabbit hole into the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. So where do we go next?

"Good Deals 2016 provides a unique platform for industry leaders to share their opinions and open up the debate on what these challenges will mean for the industry."

West added that the new boss of Big Society Capital, Cliff Prior, would be offering a vision for the future and that there would be "some super spicy controversy" from Wahhab, author of a provocative new book, Charity Sucks.

The event will include "nuts and bolts" workshops on running social enterprises plus the popular Good Deals Pitches, where three social entrepreneurs pitch real investment propositions to a panel of social investors and delegates vote for who should win. 

There will also be a social finance fair run partnership with Social Enterprise West Midlands.

Good Deals is produced by Matter&Co, which is the sister company of Pioneers Post.

Header photo: Mike Norton, Flickr

Editor's Picks