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
Social networks