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Social Investment Connect

 

In April 2018, BSWN was commissioned by the Connect Fund under the Barrow Cadbury Trust to explore the BAME social enterprise sector across the South West of England and understand the barriers and challenges faced by BAME social entrepreneurs in accessing social investment.

What have we achieved so far?

Our research team undertook this task through a research programme to map the existing BAME social enterprise sector across the South West - providing data on the numerical size, the financial size (turnover and staff), the sectoral specialisms, the geographic locations of the BAME social enterprise sector in the South West and identify barriers to accessing social investment. The research programme concluded in May 2019 with the launch of our Research findings - Download the Executive Summary here.

We have also:

  • delivered a Start Up Course for social enterprises with our partner, School for Social Entrepreneur

  • contributed to the development process of a diagnostic tool for use with BAME social enterprises to determine their specific needs in order to become investment ready led by Voscur

  • Hosted and contributed to several events focused around social enterprise

  • Secured mentors for several BAME social enterprise start ups and social entrepreneurs in the South West of England to enrich their learning

The project is predicted to conclude in January 2020 and BSWN will look forward to sharing all useful resources and tools for social enterprises across the South West of England.