Amy Carter recently had the pleasure of attending a presentation from four millennials talking about Social Enterprises here in Christchurch.  The future leaders were excited to share their findings with the baby boomers and gen-Xers.  After all, in their minds, Social Enterprise is a relatively new concept largely driven by their generation.

Those of us with laughter lines and natural “highlights” in our hair openly questioned if it was a new concept, or was it just a relabeling of an existing model?

Currently there is no nationally agreed legal definition of what a social enterprise is.  The Akina Foundation, the Government-funded entity that is charged with growing social enterprise, defines them as purpose-driven organisations that trade to deliver social and environmental impact.  Akina also references that they use commercial methods to be financially self-sustained.

Based on that definition, I’m sure we could all could draft a list, including many of the larger long-established charities, that have developed commercial products to underwrite the social or environmental services that they deliver.

Christchurch has been informally recognised as a hot spot for social enterprise since the 2010/11 earthquakes.  Last year we hosted the Social Enterprise World Forum because of this.

I have certainly seen a huge increase in entities popping up that want to make a difference, largely driven by impressive younger talent.  However, our own Kilmarnock Enterprises was established in 1958.

I certainly don’t believe that Social Enterprise is a new concept.  What we call it is largely immaterial, what is important is the amazing work that they do, and what can be achieved by taking this approach.