Australian social enterprise community launches ‘sector-owned’ national strategy

The Australian social enterprise sector this week launched its first-ever national strategy – a plan to “unlock the power of social enterprise” – co-designed by stakeholders from across the ecosystem.

Coordinated by Social Enterprise Australia, the national peak body (advocacy organisation) for social enterprise, the National Strategy for Social Enterprise is the result of cross-sector collaboration, rather than being led by the government or a single organisation. Nearly 500 people from across the Australian social enterprise ecosystem were involved in its design, through workshops, surveys, a forum, meetings and a vote. 

“Social enterprise is not a worthy fringe. It is a practical demonstration of business putting people and planet first,” said Jess Moore, CEO of Social Enterprise Australia. “This strategy gives Australia a shared path to better understand and back the enterprises doing the work, and unlock the power of social enterprise together.”

As a sector-wide strategy that is “owned and delivered by many”, the plan explicitly “focuses on high-level alignment and ongoing coordination” rather than having a high-degree of control and detail. It identifies five sectors where social enterprise can drive substantial impact: environmental care, access to decent work, First Nations self-determination, access to goods and services, and communities shaping their own future. 

Tanya Plibersek (pictured), Australia’s minister for social services, praised the strategy: “I welcome the leadership, commitment and collaboration shown by the social enterprise sector in bringing forward this National Social Enterprise Strategy. It reflects a shared ambition to build a more inclusive, connected and compassionate Australia.”

She added her government “recognises the vital contribution of the social enterprise sector to both our society and our economy”. 

This National Social Enterprise Strategy reflects a shared ambition to build a more inclusive, connected and compassionate Australia

About half of organisations involved in the strategy’s design were social enterprises; other participants included support and network organisations, philanthropists, government and impact investors. Just under a fifth of organisations represented were owned by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; 31% were located in rural areas, and 69% in urban areas.

Matt Pfahlert, CEO and co-founder of the Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship (ACRE), which was involved in the design of the strategy, described the plan as an “important step forward”. He said: “Our sector has never lacked passion or good ideas. Bringing those together around a shared direction has always been the harder part. That’s why the process behind this strategy was important. It created the space for people to listen, contribute and shape something together.”

He added: “We know progress happens when trust is built, those closest to the challenge are heard, and we define what success looks like together. Strong networks and a shared vision aren't a nice-to-have – they're part of the infrastructure that helps rural social enterprises succeed.”

• Read more: ‘Rural is cool’: How social enterprise can help rural communities thrive

Three priorities

The strategy sets out three priority areas: first, connecting and aligning the ecosystem, which will involve developing “infrastructure” to enable diverse organisations to collaborate; giving First Nations people the power to set a roadmap for self-determination; and building a shared narrative to advocate for the sector. 

Second, the plan commits to building knowledge and practice, including by gathering better data about social enterprise in the country, developing ways of learning from each other, using and shaping digital technology and tackling its potential harms, and taking action to shift systems and behaviours that marginalise First Nations people. 

Third, the strategy outlines how conditions for growth of the sector need to be created, through better access to customers, funding and capital.

Members of the social enterprise community are invited to continue to participate in delivering the strategy by joining regular meetings, campaigns and “impact area groups” for organisations focused on a particular issue, to both share ideas and monitor progress. 

• Listen to the podcast: Why data sovereignty is crucial for Indigenous communities, with Shaun Cumming and James Gauci

Now, time for action

Luke Terry (pictured), CEO of White Box Enterprises, a Queensland-based organisation that supports jobs-focused social enterprises, congratulated all involved in the initiative, saying the sector had been working on this kind of national alignment for more than a decade and that Plibersek’s endorsement represented a “significant milestone”.

“The strategy rightly recognises that social enterprises do not simply need encouragement,” he added. “They need customers, fit-for-purpose capital, funding for the additional cost of delivering impact, strong data and enduring sector infrastructure.”

But he noted that while this was an important first step, “it is not the destination”. The level of maturity of the social enterprise ecosystem was uneven across Australia’s jurisdictions, he explained. 

“Queensland, for example, already has a roadmap and is investing at around twice the annual federal level. The opportunity is to connect and accelerate that work nationally, while learning from the jurisdictions already leading it. 

“The opportunity now is to build on the federal initiatives already underway and translate this recognition into procurement, additional patient capital, properly funded outcomes and an enduring partnership with government at much greater scale.”

This is an important first step, but it is not the destination

ACRE’s Pfahlert said: “The strategy gives us direction, but now it's up to all of us to turn that into action through investment, policy, partnerships and practice that create the conditions for social enterprise to succeed in communities across Australia.

“In the end, that’s how the success of the strategy will be judged. Not by the document itself, but by whether more communities can unlock the power of social enterprise to create opportunities, solve local challenges and shape their own futures.”

Top image: staff members at WV Technologies, a social enterprise offering IT recycling and data decommissioning services that trains and employs underprivileged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth. Learn more about WV Technologies in our Earth Fixers feature.