There is good news for social entrepreneurs and enterprises in the West Midlands, as the West Midlands Combined Authority is sticking by its commitment to “doubling the West Midlands social economy.” Covid 19 did get in the way a bit (understatement of the year), but the resources are now beginning to flow, so we thought we’d give you a heads up on what you may be able to access in the very near future:
Social Economy Drive
Firstly there is the Social Economy Drive which has now expanded across the Midlands with 15 learning events during “enterprise week” 13th to 19th November 2023. You can find the event listings here on the SED website. There are numerous events hosted by a range of partners, we may even see you at some?
Coming Soon
Funded Regional Support Available c. November 2023 and March 2025
The WMCA recently tendered for Social Enterprise support organisations to provide a range of services to support social enterprises across the West Midlands region. We are due to find out who has been successful in gaining these contracts soon and will update you as soon as we know, but for now we thought we’d let you know what’s on its way between c. November 2023 and March 2025:
- A peer learning program with start-up grants – geared toward those who are early in their development (15-50k turnover) and started post Covid 19 – development grant (£2k) available as part of the mix.
- A peer learning program for enterprises (over 2 years old with income between 50k-100k). Aim to increase trading and comes with an incentivised grant of up to £5k.
- A peer learning program for enterprises (income between £100k – £500k) with up to £10k grant incentivised.
- A program for leaders of larger orgs (£500k +). Up to £20k incentivsed grant.
- One to one mentoring / coaching (note it is our understanding that in order to access this you will have been on one of the programs noted above).
- A program of support for organisations looking to bid for public sector contracts or be ready for social investment.
We will of course put further information here, and on our funded programs page as soon as we have further information. Keep you eyes peeled.