Representatives from the world of social enterprise gathered last night for the Enterprising Solutions Awards.
The awards, which celebrate the UK’s most innovative social enterprises, were organised by the Social Enterprise Coalition and were held in London’s Victoria & Albert museum.
Overall winner of the evening was Divine Chocolate. The Fairtrade chocolate company is co-owned by a Ghanaian cocoa farmer’s cooperative. The Kuapa Kokoo co-op receives a share of the profits as well as payment for their cocoa crop.
The Divine chocolate bar is sold in Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Asda, the Co-op and Wholefoods. The company also supplies all own-label chocolate for Starbucks and recently launched an American affiliate and expects turnover for 2007 to hit £10.5m.
Other winners of the evening included The Goodwin Development Trust, which operates several community ventures in Hull's Thornton Estate and Riverside Area, and Women Like US, a recruitment agency which helps mothers return to work.
Speaking at the event Phil Hope, minister for the third sector, praised the efforts and work of all the nominated businesses, but said more could be done to encourage similar ventures.
“The government’s social enterprise plan was launched nearly a year ago but we, I, and the government still need to do more to promote [social enterprise].”
There are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the UK, according to government figures, with a combined annual turnover of £27bn.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
