NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, October 11, 2019

By Lucy Douglas

Social enterprises are outperforming traditional businesses in the UK on turnover growth and when it comes to tackling structural inequality, according to new research.

According to the figures, 52 per cent of social enterprises grew their turnover in the last 12 months despite Brexit uncertainty, compared with 34 per cent of SMEs.

The numbers also show that social enterprises are more forward thinking when it comes to environmental and social concerns than traditional businesses. Some 75 per cent of social enterprises view the environment as being of equal or more importance to cost when it comes to procurement decisions, versus 24 per cent of SME owners. Meanwhile 40 per cent of social enterprises are led by women (compared to 17 per cent of SMEs) and 13 per cent are led by people of colour, compared to 5 per cent of SMEs.

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