Big wins for social enterprise through Deloitte Pioneers programme

Deloitte’s Social Innovation Pioneers programme was recognised yesterday by the Prime Minister’s Big Society Awards 2013 for supporting social enterprises across the UK.  

 

The award comes as a report from Social Enterprise UK, commissioned by Deloitte, found the programme to be delivering clear growth for the social businesses taking part.

 

The independent evaluation found that during the first year the social ventures on the programme grew 45% on average. Some 83% of the Pioneers increased employment in this period, equating to 80 full-time and 41 part-time roles. And nine of the social ventures taking part on the programme are now on course to become suppliers to Deloitte. 

 

Commenting on the Big Society Award, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The support of Deloitte has seen some great businesses become investment-ready, as well as getting the team more involved in their local communities. I'm delighted to be recognising Deloitte's achievements with this Big Society Award." 

 

Last year, Deloitte selected 30 social businesses from across the UK, ranging in sector and turnover, and this year another 16 social businesses have been selected. The programme provides selected Pioneers with an intensive 12-month package of support using Deloitte’s skills and expertise to provide tangible support to their core business.

 

Strategic partners on the programme include Social Enterprise UK and Pioneers Post's sister organisation Matter&Co, which has been providing support on branding and communications. 

 

The social businesses enrolled on the programme range from the ethical fashion outlet Elvis and Kresse, which re-uses The London Firebrigade’s off-cast fire hoses as raw materials for luxury bags, belts and purses, to the community transport charity ECT Charity, which provides accessible transport to people with mobility issues.

 

David Sproul, senior partner and chief executive at Deloitte, said: “I have the opportunity to see and experience some amazing examples of our work with clients but in terms of pride in who we are as a firm and what we stand for it is hard to beat the time I have personally spent with a number of our Social Innovation Pioneers; particularly hearing from them just how important our people’s contribution is to their success. I am therefore not only extremely pleased with SEUK’s findings but also immensely proud of the impact the programme has had in such a short time, both on the growth of the Pioneers and our people; and we are looking forward to further developing the programme with this year’s cohort.” 

 

After the report's results were made public, Peter Holbrook, chief executive at SEUK said: “The title of the report, Breaking New Ground, demonstrates the degree to which we believe the Deloitte approach to engaging with the social enterprise sector has been successful. This is not Corporate Social Responsibility, this is Deloitte doing what they do best – using their skills and expertise to be a catalyst for growth across this dynamic sector.”

 

In a separate telephone interview Peter Holbrook told Pioneers Post: “Businesses are beginning to understand shared value and wanting to collaborate with social enterprise. That’s going to be a massive growth area here in the UK and right around the globe.”

 

In comparison to the wider market, the 45% rate of growth exceeds the average for the social enterprise sector, currently at 38%, and is far higher than the 29% growth seen by UK small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

 

After nine of the first 30 Pioneers either entered a supply chain agreement or partnership directly with Deloitte, the firm has said it expects the number of social enterprises in its supply chain and the volume of services provided to increase year on year and is now encouraging its own suppliers to consider their individual social impact.

 

The social businesses participating on the Deloitte Pioneers programme say there is strong evidence that the private sector support is helping them grow and increase their social impact. Some 86% of the Pioneers rated the programme as excellent, while 100% would recommend participation to their peers.

 

Meanwhile, the term ‘corporate social venturing’ (CSV) has been coined by Big Issue Invest – the social investment arm of the Big Issue and another partner on the Deloitte Pioneers programme – to describe another private and social sector partnership that is working to sustain and support social ventures.

 

The collaboration is between Big Issue Invest, Nominet Trust, Unity Trust Bank, Bank of America, Merril Lynch, The MITIE Foundation, Salesforce Foundation, and LDC, which is providing investment and long-term support to 11 tech enterprises, unveiled earlier this week.