Showcasing Social Enterprise in Doncaster
19th April 2007
“Bustling atmosphere – excellent networking opportunities”
“Made some really useful contacts – did this social firm a lot of good”
“Good opportunity to see how Enterprises contribute to healthy living and community involvement”
These were just a few of the positive comments that we received following our Social Enterprise Showcase Event held at the Doncaster Dome on Wednesday 4 April 2007.
The event was jointly hosted by the Community and Social Enterprise Partnership (CSEP) and the Social Enterprise Development (SED) Team, Doncaster CVS.
The Showcase Event presented the perfect opportunity for local social enterprises to promote their goods and services, demonstrate how they directly benefit the local community and find out about the broad range of opportunities available to help grow their businesses.
A total of 37 exhibitors set up their stands (over 100% increase on last year!), who provided services and products ranging from health and social care, education, environment, transport and arts social enterprises. These included Higher Rhythm, Adwick Community Enterprise, Temps2Work, Hayfield Wheelers, Tricon Foundation, Kiran Asian Arts, to name but a few.
One of the key aims of the event was to introduce the concept of ‘narrowing the markets’ and exploring procurement opportunities - this proved to be a great success from both points of view. This was made possible by the involvement and participation of Doncaster Council’s Corporate Procurement Team, Commissioners from the Doncaster Primary Care Trust and Supply Chain Management from South Yorkshire Police.
It would be true to say that all those who attended were visibly impressed by the variety of social enterprise activity in
But the excitement doesn’t stop there! We are already busily arranging CSEP’s next networking event. On 22 May 2007 the focus will be on Social Enterprises who work within the Creative Industries. The networking event will take place at the Northern Jazz Centre on Beckett Road.
We have managed to secure Keith Evans, Managing Director from the Creative Industries Development Agency as our guest speaker. In addition to this, Keith Angel, founder member of Wavelength Arts CIC and Steve Mundin, of Higher Rhythm will be discussing successful partnership working in social enterprise. Keith and Steve also plan to organise some superb visual and musical presentations throughout the evening. To find out more, contact Ellen (details below).
If you would like to find out more about the work of the SED Team at Doncaster CVS and CSEP, please contact
