Social firms are favoured by women and BME communities

Women and those from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities are more likely than men or those from white communities to be “social entrepreneurs”, says research from the Delta Economics think tank which promotes sustainable development through entrepreneurship.

Around 1.3 million people, representing 3.4% of the working population, are employed in social enterprises — organisations which put social and environmental concerns at the heart of their business goals. Well-known examples include The Big Issue, the current affairs magazine sold on the streets by homeless people, and Fairtrade coffee company Cafédirect.

The results of a five-year survey of UK social enterprises found that twice as many BME respondents were in some form of start-up social entrepreneurial activity compared to white respondents. Social entrepreneurship in the UK says that only 3.8% of white respondents were involved in establishing social firms; that compares with 8.9% of people of mixed origin, 6.7% of those from the Indian sub-continent and 10.5% of people from the black African and Caribbean communities.

And women were as likely as or more likely than men to be social entrepreneurs, contrasting with mainstream business where men are twice as likely to be entrepreneurs.

Government figures suggest that there are over 55,000 social firms contributing around £8.4 billion a year to the UK economy. They account for 5% of all business with employees and have a combined turnover of £27 billion.

Social entrepreneurship in the UK can be downloaded from: www.deltaeconomics.com,