Social Value Summit - creating sustainable social value
Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Social Enterprise UK Social Value Leaders Summit – a trip to London ensued, and a lot of great networking across the social economy sector.
But, more than that…
Sometimes it’s good, and needed, to look beyond our own regional borders and take time to think and talk strategically.
As CEO of a highly sustainable social enterprise that’s always been passionately ‘Brummie-based’, it can feel a bit distant looking over the fence at ‘the big city’. However, this trip was really timely and super inspiring!
The keynote was delivered by Gareth Rhy-Williams, the Chair of National Highways, and former UK Government Chief Commercial Officer, who set out what the new Procurement Act will mean for social value.
“We all know that growth comes disproportionately from SMEs (and VCFSEs by implication).”
My reflection here was how good it felt to be recognised as a sector. He also made a strong point about encouraging pre-market and pre-procurement engagement of VCFSEs by commissioners and corporates trying to bring VCFSEs into their supply chain. Yes!
We then heard from Minister Georgia Gould MP for a fireside chat about how social enterprises can help deliver mission-driven procurement. Within the fireside chat, she stressed that public sector and large organisations bidding for work with them should engage a lot more with social enterprises.
“SMEs, and by default VCFSEs, help innovation and positive social impact.”
My thoughts here are that the procurement process, led by the commissioners of services, needs to look at contracts being managed as smaller lots to make them accessible to the market. This would allow for delivery of ‘best practice’ localised services that have innovation at their heart and are people-centred. So, less red tape and more community-focused, transformational solutions.
What energised me about attending this years Social Value Summit was the people.
I met up with long-standing social economy friends, and of course it’s always great to see Peter Holbrook CBE, CEO of Social Enterprise UK! Also, the number of new connections and corporates, all excited to be engaging with the social value conversation, was fantastic.
More than that, here at ChangeKitchen CIC we are starting the next phase of innovation and sustainability as a result of the Crowdfunding for Change campaign we ran last September. We are launching our ‘Ready Meals for Good’ range at the NEC The Workplace Event next week as one of only 10 social enterprises to exhibit.
Every ‘Ready Meal for Good’ purchased helps extend our social value by providing a free community meal to someone experiencing food insecurity... So, to all those who wanted to hear more - thank you!
The VCFSE sector is superbly placed to deliver real change across society and the economy – and ChangeKitchen CIC is ready to play its part!
Birgit Kehrer
Proud CEO of ChangeKitchen CIC – a social enterprise that’s cooking up change for good.
