We were tasked by North Yorkshire Council with mapping the Social Enterprise Sector in three towns across the county – Hipswell, Eastfield and Selby.
The ultimate goal was to assess which of these towns would be best suited to a pilot project to find and grow social entrepreneurship.
Our Role: Consultants
We used the Social Vision LEAN model to evaluate the relative readiness of each place for a social enterprise network.
Are there people in the community who can lead, inspire and facilitate social enterprise? If they haven’t done so, what are the barriers and what resources are needed to activate social entrepreneurs and social enterprise?
Is there a buzz or energy from people in the place that recognises the power of social enterprise and similar models to effect change? Are there already networks locally that could be used to spin off a social enterprise network? Is there a culture of social enterprise embedded in the town or is it an alien concept?
Are there buildings or spaces that are currently being used to incubate social enterprise or are there buildings/spaces that could be used to facilitate start-ups? Are there organisations already working locally to support organisations and individuals that could be key components of a local SE network?
All are unique places with different needs and challenges but are there any specific characteristics that social enterprise could help address? What social issues are local people facing?
We held a number of workshops, one to one meetings, and online surveys with social enterprise leaders and influencers in each of the towns – gathering brilliant feedback and support for the project.
All three areas had great social enterprise representation, but Selby outscored the others due to it’s receptiveness to innovation, high energy levels of its leaders, and some exciting assets.
You can read the full overview of this project here.
This project informed the design of the hyve Selby project (link)