As today is Social Enterprise Day the national day to promote and celebrate social enterprise there was a reception at No. 10 Downing Street at which the winners of the England heat of the Social Enterprise Awards were announced and celebrated.
An investee of The Social Investment Business, Sit n b Fit, had the privilege of attending this event along with 100 other social enterprise representatives. Sit n b Fit Director Lynn Summerfield described the event as a really great reception in celebrating and promoting the valuable work of social enterprises across England.
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown and Minister for the Third Sector, Angela Smith, were among those who addressed the social enterprise crowd and gave out the Social Enterprise Awards.
When I met Lynn after the event she was positively buzzing about it. She and Margaret Elliot of Sunderland Home Care Associates Ltd, passionately described how great it is that there has been so much publicity about the vital work of social enterprises, and how they hope that this top level enthusiasm and support will filter down to a commissioning level so that social enterprises can increase their capacity to keep delivering top quality services.
Lynn Summerfield and Margaret Elliot
Sit n b Fit received an investment from the Social Enterprise Investment Fund to develop and expand the organisations capacity to provide gentle and therapeutic exercise for older and less mobile people in Sunderland in order to maintain and sustain independent living.
Lynn has become a leading light in advocating for social enterprises; she featured on The Secret Millionaire, on which Jonathan Hicks awarded Sit n b Fit £15,000; she has been a key speaker at many social enterprise events and may even feature on Sky Sports Fitness in the near future. She explains:
It is just so rewarding to work for a cause I feel so passionate about, by reinvesting our surpluses into the business I am able to help my community prosper and that is so important for me. Its very surreal being in the lime-light, but when its promoting Sit n b Fits causes and the benefits of social enterprises I am only too happy.
Social enterprise Day is part of the larger Global Entrepreneurship Week which sees a range of events taking place across the country to promote all types of entrepreneurship.
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- Hannah Grant
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