Hi Nienke-Marie

I am one of the researchers from the team at Coventry University and a member of the ComMent team.

Thank you for your post which for some reason I did not get a notification of.

I hope that you are finding the materials interesting. You dont need to post your answers in this forum but I was very interested to read your comments.

I really like the way you have described social economy and the way in which it can really enhance people lives.

Social enterprises do run in a simialr way to regular businesses, however, they need to 'so something good', make a contribution to society. So yes, they could sell shoes but to be a social enterprise they need to be engaging with the community and/or making a difference. For example if the 'shoes' were made by a group of people who were recovering from a period of mental ill health and this enabled them to learn new skills and take a role in the running of the enterpise, this would be within the values of a social enterpise - as long as any profits were reinvested back into the enterprise and people received a wage for the work they did.

Yes, I agree that Social Enterprises can take a long time to get established and also potentially to see the postive outcomes they aim to fulfil.

Do any other participants have any comments to make?

Best wishes

Christina