Social enterprise ambassadors
The Office of the Third Sector, in collaboration with the social
enterprise sector, has developed a social enterprise ambassadors
programme to help raise awareness of social enterprise and work
with the Government on the development of social
enterprise policy.
Background
The social enterprise ambassadors programme was announced in the
social enterprise action plan, published in November 2006. Following a
joint workshop with the sector in March 2007, the Office of the Third
Sector invited tenders for developing a programme to create at least 20 new
social enterprise ambassadors, to raise awareness of social enterprise and
attract new people to the sector.
In June 2007, the Minister for the Third Sector announced that a consortium
headed by the Social Enterprise Coalition would develop and deliver the
programme. The consortium brought together key players from across
the social enterprise movement including:
In October 2007, the Social Enterprise Coalition announced the names of 25
successful social entrepreneurs who had been chosen to become ambassadors
for social enterprise.
The programme is being funded by the Office of the Third Sector
The ambassadors
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.
Ambassadors include:
-
Liam Black, chief executive officer, Fifteen
-
Tim Smit, co-founder and chief executive of the Eden Project
-
John Bird, founder and chief executive, the Big Issue
-
Penny Newman, chief executive, Café Direct
-
Lord Victor Adebowale, chief executive, Turning Point
-
Tim Campbell, winner of the first 'Apprentice' and founder of the
Bright Ideas Trust
-
Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the Glastonbury Festival
-
Sophi Tranchell, chief executive officer, Divine Chocolate
The other ambassadors are social entrepreneurs operating in many markets,
chosen through a thorough recruitment process, aiming for a mix of age,
experience gender and region.
The ambassadors are actively involved in
Social Enterprise Day. Many are also featured in the new
Trailblazers magazine, produced in November 2007.
