Boosting Social Enterprise Development
Good Practice Compendium

Social enterprises are long-standing agents of inclusive growth and democratisation of the economic and social spheres, and they have proved resilient to economic adversity all the while addressing socio-economic challenges in innovative ways, re-integrating people back to the labour market, and contributing to overall social cohesion. This compendium derives policy lessons for boosting social enterprises from the analysis of 20 initiatives in several EU member-countries, covering a range of policy areas from legal frameworks, finance, market access, and support structures, to education and skills.
Big Potential: An investment readiness programme, United Kingdom
The Big Potential programme provides grants for investment readiness support, and raises awareness of investment approaches for voluntary, community and social enterprises in England. This chapter describes the programme’s objectives, rationale and activities, the challenges faced in implementing the scheme, and the impact achieved. It includes lessons learnt and conditions for transferring this practice to another context.