Wales’ Social enterprises receive £574,000 Welsh Government funding boost

23 Dec 2021 02:06 PM

The Welsh Government is making £574,000 of funding available to support four new projects which will help the social enterprise sector in Wales deliver a fairer and greener economic recovery, Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething announced yesterday.

The funding will help to fulfil the Welsh Government’s Programme for Government commitments and support social enterprises, co-operatives, and employee-owned businesses. 

The projects being funded include:

• The Tackling Climate Change project will provide a grant scheme and business support for start-up social enterprises that agree to design, implement and embed independently agreed ‘net zero carbon’ policies. It will build examples of good practice for how climate change mitigation, adaptation and action can be fully integrated into a social business’s standard operating patterns. 
• The Promoting Diversity project will deliver funding and expert support to marginalised social entrepreneurs in Wales, especially in areas of multiple deprivation and for those who are disabled and/or are from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background.
• The Buy Local, Buy Social project will promote and support the strengthening of local economies by working with local authorities, health boards and other public bodies to buy more of their good and services locally. They’ll do so by commissioning and producing within the local SME and social enterprise supply chain.

There will also be additional support for promoting employee ownership in Wales. The funding will help support the development of marketing materials and campaigns for employee ownership to be used in future years.

Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething said:

Social enterprises across Wales have been at the heart of our community response to the Covid-19 Pandemic – providing valuable support to people when they most need it.

There is huge potential for co-operatives and social enterprises to be the business model of choice, delivering solutions to social, economic and environmental challenges. That’s why supporting social businesses and cooperatives across Wales to develop and grow is one of the key goals of the Welsh Government.

I’m pleased to be making an additional £574,000 funding available to support and promote the social enterprise sector in Wales. The funding will support four new projects which will help the sector deliver a fairer, greener economic recovery in Wales.