The Scottish Government has invested almost £5 million in ethical businesses over the financial year
Six successful Scottish social enterprises have secured additional funding.
The Scottish Government announced this week that it was investing £637,000 in social enterprise - bringing the total invested so far this financial year to £4.9 million.
The programmes will drive forward Scotland’s 10-year Social Enterprise Strategy, supporting and encouraging businesses that reinvest their profits to address social change in areas such as homelessness, unemployment, inequality, and climate change.
The funding will be split between Community Shares Scotland, which helps communities to raise capital locally; Intrapreneurship in Scotland, which encourages the third and public sectors to work together; and The Melting Pot’s Co-Worker Accelerator Network.
Also successful were Trade Up 2018, which incentivises trading in weaker markets; Partnership for Procurement (P4P), which offers support for securing contracts delivered by Senscot in partnership with other third sector organisations; and The Ethnic Minority Capacity Building Programme, which will be delivered by Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations (CEMVO).
Communities secretary Aileen Campbell announced the latest round of funding during a visit to Brewgooder, a craft brewer which recently shipped its one millionth can and invests all of its profits into ending water poverty for one million people in some of the world’s poorest countries.
The social enterprise gained £20,000 from the Scottish Government to establish a new headquarters in Edinburgh.
Campbell said: “Scotland is a world leading social enterprise nation and we are committed to continued investment and support to drive forward social change and improvement, both in our own country and across the world.”
Brewgooder founder Alan Mahon said: “Scotland is one of best places in the world to start and grow a social enterprise, and the Scottish Government’s commitment to the sector is world leading.
“Brewgooder has grown 200%, exceeded £500,000 in turnover and helped bring 40,000 people clean drinking water with the help of the Social Enterprise strategy. We are looking to take the next step and internationalise through the support package announced today.”
