Business and Economy

Community Initiatives

For the Hampshire economy to remain efficient, all sectors of the population must be given the opportunity to contribute towards and share in the benefits of prosperity. On this page you will find information relating to community based programmes and initiatives.

eVOLve is an online directory of voluntary and community organisations serving Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. e.VOLve is being developed to draw together a picture of the huge economic impact that the voluntary and community sector make.See the e.VOLve website for further details.

The County Council is working with Havant Borough Council and BT to help bring IT training and support to residents of Leigh Park in a project called Everybody on Line .  The aim is to help particularly those out of work to acquire useful job-related skills.  This successful scheme is now also being rolled out to the residents of Alamein in Andover.

Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are businesses trading with a social purpose. Although there is no legal definition of a social enterprise the following definition is useful and generally accepted.

A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.

(from "Social Enterprise - a strategy for success" DTI, 2004)

Social enterprises address a wide range of  social and environmental issues and operate in all parts of the economy. The social benefit can be achieved indirectly by investing the profit form the business into an unrelated beneficiary (such as a charity shop putting profits from retail into support services for the elderly). A social enterprise can also include its social aims directly in its business (such as a recycled furniture business that trains ex offenders  in restoration skills). Social enterprises are often have ownership structures that include stakeholders or trustees. There are several forms that social enterprises can take including, co-operatives, development trusts, credit unions and community interest companies.

If you are thinking of starting up a business that could be a social enterprise you can get advice to help you decide which is the best way forward.

Business Link can provide help and support and the Social Enterprise Coalition can provide further information.