SuNSE - Support Network for Social Entrepreneurs

Project Summary

The Support Network for Social Entrepreneurs (SuNSE) will develop a network of social entrepreneurship hubs across North West Europe, to act as local points for stimulating community driven economic activity in disadvantaged regions. Partners based in UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands and France will bring together expertise, support agencies, local authorities, universities and enterprise support specialists in a transnational partnership that will address common problems of market failure in economically excluded communities.

SuNSE will support social entrepreneurs to start and grow social businesses (those which deliver social as well as economic benefits). The project aims to reduce out-migration of ambitious individuals, by offering them supportive learning environments (in areas such as business planning, financial management, market awareness and commercialising opportunities), which will enable them to establish locally based social businesses. This will not only create career opportunities for the participating individuals but will regenerate communities experiencing market failures through job creation and delivery of products/services vital to community resilience. In developing the social entrepreneurship hubs, SuNSE will test and trial new approaches in social business development, refining and adopting transnational good practice gained through the partnership.

Over the 3-year life-time of the project, SuNSE will create a transnational network of collaborative organisations, working together to support social entrepreneurs and each other. The outputs that SuNSE will achieve (across the NWE region) include; 8 new social innovation hubs, resulting in 300 people receiving support and 200 businesses assisted to grow, of which 70 will bring new products & services to the market.

Through the SuNSE partnership, high impact, robust and tested models for social entrepreneurship development will be created. Approaches developed will be utilised long after the end of the programme and the network of social entrepreneurs and hubs will continue as a transnational collaboration and platform for knowledge exchange well into the future.