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Last updated: 23 November 2008
15 October 2007
The Social Enterprise Coalition has announced the names of 25 successful social entrepreneurs who have been chosen to become ambassadors for social enterprise.
The ambassadors will raise awareness of achieving social and environmental goals through enterprise, and will act as role models for people interested in a career in the social enterprise sector.
The new ambassadors include social entrepreneurs operating in many markets, and were chosen after a thorough recruitment process, aiming for a mix of age, experience and gender, and for at least one ambassador in each English region.
They join a number of high-profile social entrepreneurs who have already agreed to become ambassadors, including Tim Smit of the Eden Project, Sophi Tranchell of Divine Chocolate, John Bird of the Big Issue and Emily Eavis of the Glastonbury Festival.
The social enterprise ambassadors programme was announced in the social enterprise action plan, published in November 2006. It is being funded by the Office of the Third Sector, and delivered by a consortium led by the Social Enterprise Coalition.
Phil Hope, Minister for the Third Sector, said:
“The social enterprise ambassadors have all shown what can be achieved by using the power of business to drive social, economic and environmental change. It’s really exciting that they will be going out to inspire others who may never have heard of social enterprise, let alone considered working for one or even starting one from scratch.
“This programme is a key part of the Government’s commitment to raising awareness of the potential of social enterprises. One of the biggest challenges facing the sector is to increase understanding of its value, and I hope this programme will go a long way to achieving that.”
Full details of the ambassadors and the programme are available from the Social Enterprise Ambassadors website [external website].