Collection: The Good Leaders Podcast
The Impact World this Week: 19 September 2024
Your quick guide to the most interesting news snippets about social enterprise, impact investment and mission-driven business around the world from the Pioneers Post team. This week: will the incoming EU commissioners support the social economy? The Body Shop’s B Corp saga, and a new brand for Catalyst 2030.
Roxana Mînzatu appears to be a supporter of social enterprise © European Union 2024 - Source: EP
Europe: The EU commissioner-elect in charge of social rights, replacing Nicolas Schmit, appears to be a supporter of social enterprise. Romanian MEP Roxana Mînzatu has been named by Ursula von der Leyen as the EU Commission’s executive vice-president for people, skills and preparedness. Her portfolio will include quality jobs and social rights – the former brief of commissioner Nicolas Schmit, who spearheaded the EU Social Economy Action Plan. While Mînzatu’s mission letter doesn’t explicitly mention the social economy, in 2021, she called it a “lever for economic recovery” and said “social enterprises can lever an inclusive digital transformation, that leaves no one behind”. Von der Leyen might have snubbed the social economy in her policy priorities, but it looks like individual commissioners are likely to champion the sector in the EU executive. (The commissioners presented by Von der Leyen still need parliamentary approval before being appointed.)
Europe: Campaigners are disappointed that none of the EU commissioners-elect has been tasked specifically with supporting the social economy, given the backing it got in the last parliament – from Schmit (see above) as well as Thierry Breton, then commissioner for the internal market. In a post on Linkedin (pictured), Social Economy Europe – an organisation established in 2000 to enable permanent dialogue between the social economy and EU institutions – pointed out that the social economy wasn’t mentioned in the recent Commission Political Guidelines nor in any mission letter of the designated commissioners. It wrote: “The EU needs more #SocialEconomy and a proper deployment of the #SocialEconomyActionPlan. The [social economy] needs a #Commissioner that coordinates actions across the different EU policies and [directorates-general].”
UK: The Body Shop lost its B Corp status in June, it has emerged. The ethical beauty retailer became a B Corp in 2019, becoming the biggest B Corp to be founded by a woman (Dame Anita Roddick) and the first British multinational to certify. The Body Shop went into administration in February this year but earlier this month was bought by the Aurea Group for an undisclosed sum. A spokesperson for B Lab, which awards B Corp status, said The Body Shop’s certification was put under review in May following complaints about the company and its compliance. She added that as The Body Shop was no longer certified she was unable to comment further. Pioneers Post is awaiting a response from The Body Shop’s new owner about whether it intends to reapply for B Corp status.
- Read more: ‘No B Corp, no bonus’ – Body Shop to staff
Global: Catalyst 2030, a group of thousands of organisations that collaborate to help achieve the UN sustainable development goals by 2030, will change its name to “Catalyst Now” as part of a wider re-brand. Following a vote at the network’s general assembly in June, Catalyst Now’s mission will be to “co-create spaces where the world's social innovators connect, collaborate, and contribute to transformational change”, and its vision will be one of “thriving communities powered by social innovation – in every corner of the world.” Timeline for the official launch and new logo are yet to be announced. UN officials have warned that the SDGs are unlikely to be achieved by 2030, as originally hoped.
Wellbeing economy: the public opening of Stevenson community hub and Doon the Beach community cafe. The hub and cafe were supported by North Ayrshire Council as part of its community wealth building work. Credit: Raise Your Voice with Ardeer.
UK: Local councils putting wellbeing, rather than solely financial growth, at the heart of their economic strategies are celebrated in a report published today by the Centre for Thriving Places. Wellbeing Economy in Action highlights the Grace Network, a social enterprise in Gloucestershire creating an economy based on the needs of the most marginalised, and a high street of social and community businesses in Wales. The report is published alongside the 2024 Thriving Place Index, which analyses how local areas perform against key drivers of wellbeing of people and planet.
UK: NatWest Social & Community Capital reports record lending in 2023, with £2m committed in loans to purpose-led organisations across the UK, its latest impact report reveals. The charity, funded by UK bank NatWest, provides loans, occasional grants and business support to social enterprises, charities and community businesses that aren’t able to access mainstream finance. It doubled its total lending last year compared with 2022, with 12 new loans to purpose-led organisations, and finds that 95% of its investees would recommend it to another social enterprise. The lender acknowledges areas for improvement, such as ethnic diversity among its investees: data shows that a large majority don’t have any people of colour on their board, and about three-quarters have less than 25% of people of colour in senior management positions. The charity also pledges to prioritise investments in the Midlands, north of England, and Scotland – as 65% of its investees are currently in the south of England.
Europe: As many as 11.5m people (6.3% of the EU workforce) are employed by more than 4.3m social economy entities, including 246,000 social enterprises, reveals a report published today. The researchers for the Benchmarking the socio-economic performance of the EU social economy study took on the mammoth task of gathering data on the social economy across the EU’s 27 member states following the definition of social economy entities established in the EU Social Economy Action Plan, which includes cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, associations (including charities), foundations and social enterprises. The report highlights the sector’s key roles played during Covid-19 and in various industries, and finds that the social economy has an “untapped potential” and that it remains undervalued. Recommendations include improving the understanding and the recognition of the social economy for its role at different levels. The report was conducted by EURICSE in collaboration with CIRIEC International and Spatial Foresight on behalf of the European Commission.
Movers and Shakers
- Saskia Bruysten, co-founder of Yunus Social Business, has started a new role as partner & co-founder international at Carbon Equity, an impact investing platform that connects investors with climate private equity funds. Bruysten will help the organisation to scale internationally and pledged to dedicate the next 10 years of her life to tackling the climate crisis.
- Nicola Steuer has been appointed deputy CEO of Power to Change, the “think-do tank” that supports community businesses in the UK. She has 25 years of experience working in the charity and social enterprise sector, including at the School of Social Entrepreneurs.
- Devi Clark will step down from her role as CEO of Impact Hub London, which supports social entrepreneurs through workspace, business support, and networks, to join the organisation’s board after almost ten years with the social enterprise.
