There are some development issues and challenges around social enterprise in Scotland. The principal one is that ‘enterprise’ is as equally important as ‘social’ in the social enterprise approach. That might sound like ‘the bleeding obvious’, but there can be much confusion and woolly thinking around what people are setting up a social enterprise for. An initial practical question is how ready are you to work to or for an unremunerated board that is probably motivated more by a social mission than a profitable business one?
(I should know, I have provided consultancy advice to would-be social enterprises – pm me if you do think of taking things further). The question of what impact social enterprise have was examined in this Guardian
feature:
Another challenge is antipathy from much of institutional Scotland. Many vested interests see social enterprise as a threat to the established and traditional (tax payer funded) public sector.
An additional fear I have is that some third sector organisations (charities, community organisations etc.) have been pushed down the social enterprise routes by public funders who are now running out of money – a recipe for disaster in business!
My general view is that whilst there are notable exceptions in Scotland, much more substantial progress has been made in England in this sector.
This and
this should be of interest.