Insider Media Limited

Contributing to the communities in which businesses operate has quite rightly crept up the corporate agenda, and in the 21st century, no business can succeed without embracing ethical business models, nor should it.

Social enterprises have, in my view, become a fundamental part of overcoming today’s political and economical challenges. It is the responsibility of the business sector to support such enterprises which work to improve society. As

the moral compass for UK commerce, social enterprises are fast becoming a key to enabling businesses to have even more of a positive impact on the communities in which they work, and for the construction industry in particular this has become a partnership of great value.

Using trade as a mere stepping-stone, the business end for a social enterprise is its goal of achieving social objectives, which are ultimately beneficial to communities, the environment or the wider society. It is the strategic marriage of the objectives of the not-for-profit sector and the entrepreneurial drive of the business sector that have made social enterprises so successful.

According to government figures, there are some 62,000 social enterprises in the UK employing approximately 800,000 people. With a collaborative annual turn over of £27bn, social enterprises contribute £8.4bn to the country’s economy, which equates to almost 1 per cent of the UK’s GDP.

Such figures demonstrate that they clearly mean business and it is our undoubted responsibility to utilise and support the work that they do.

Although often set up with grants, social enterprises receive no official funding support and rely solely on the money they earn from their trade; however obvious the suggestion that social enterprises rely on the business sector for its income, a one-sided relationship it most certainly is not. Indeed it is quite the contrary and collaborating with social enterprises has continued to provide a partnership of mutual benefit.

By making social enterprises a fundamental part of supply chains, organisations like ours know that contracts awarded are a sure fire way to invest capital directly into socially-beneficial projects, not to mention the increase in employment this achieves.

Networking forums have become a proficient means of bringing together social enterprises and the business sector. For example, iSE, the acting regional development agency for social enterprises in the West Midlands, recently held a Meet the Buyer event in Birmingham, which we attended with hope of establishing working relationships with a wider range of social enterprises.

In 2010 we enlisted the services of The Jericho Foundation, which comprises several social enterprises each trading to reinvest profits back into the foundation.

More than 50 per cent of the disadvantaged unemployed community members with whom Jericho has engaged move into sustainable employment or full time training when they leave the foundation, and in times of economic austerity, it is imperative to open as many doors as possible to give those who are disadvantaged a means to learn a trade.

Delivering construction projects has never been a case of simply moving in and moving out. A wider objective to leave a legacy has always been of paramount importance. Social enterprises have come to the fore as an essential component of strengthening this strategy, ensuring that the communities in which we work are supported during project delivery but more importantly ensuring that the improvements are still seen long after the work is complete.

2011 is a time when great emphasis will be on building stronger relationships with social enterprises and a dedication to significantly assisting them in achieve their social objectives. It pleases me to say that from where I am sitting in the Midlands, social enterprises are fast becoming very much a part of normal practice, for us and for the business community as a whole.

Phil Harrison is Wates Construction’s managing director Midlands and north