Voscur are pleased to share some updates from Social Economy West – a West of England Mayoral Combined Authority initiative, designed to support and grow the social economy in the region. 

Voscur are currently supporting 26 Bristol-based social enterprises through the programme. Each enterprise attends 1-2-1 diagnostic sessions, within which their key enterprise challenges are assessed and an action plan is co-created to make progress in key objective areas. Through this coaching and support process, Voscur has worked with organisations in a number of ways, including to analyse their current business model, identify key risks, explore opportunities for growth and scale, assess alternative income streams and prepare for social investment. 

“The action plan document was incredibly useful to prioritise tasks and really think through what our next steps should be” 

– Social Economy West client 

Central to the program is a series of workshops, which has already included sessions on business modelling, enterprise planning, social investment and scaling impact. Coming up, clients can sign up to workshops on risk management and impact measurement (measuring and analysing, reporting & reviewing). As the cohort grows, we also look forward to developing peer networking opportunities later in the year. 

“Really looking forward to putting these new skills into practice as we develop our next business plan!”  

– Social Economy West client 

We are excited to have launched the Social Economy West mentoring programme, pairing leaders in the social economy sector with experienced social entrepreneur and business mentors. These mentoring partnerships are a chance for social enterprise leaders to connect with an experienced peer, a sounding board to help guide them as they go through organisational change. If you would like to access mentoring support, please click here to learn more and apply. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please reach out to Orlaith (orlaith.m@voscur.org).  

All Social Economy West opportunities are fully funded for eligible clients (including a special workshop discount code to access sessions via Voscur’s VCSE Academy). To apply and start accessing support, please get in contact with Orlaith McGuinness (orlaith.m@voscur.org), or fill out the form here: Social Economy West | Business West 

We look forward to meeting you!