West Itchen - Social Enterprise

What is a Social Enterprise?

It is a business that operates in the commercial market place like any other business and tries to make as much money as possible from its main trading activity. However, what sets it apart from a private business is what it does with its surpluses or profits.

Instead of these profits going to shareholders as dividends or to directors as bonus payments, they are reinvested into the company’s social objectives – often referred to as its ‘social mission’.

There are lots of different types of social enterprise and many have been around for years doing a great job within their local communities. Fortunately, the Government now recognises the key role that social enterprises can play in regenerating communities and is committed to provide more support for social businesses. The creation of the new Social Enterprise Unit at the Department of Trade & Industry, in July 2002, is evidence of this commitment.

Where did the Trust get its money from?

The Trust follows on from the Southampton Regeneration Partnership and has been set up with funding from both the South-East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and Southampton City Council.

However, this funding is unusual in that it has been granted specifically to enable the Trust to buy commercial property and rent this out to generate an income. This is how the Trust will pay its bills and stay around – often referred to as ‘sustainability’.

The SEEDA funding amounts to just under £1.2 million and the Southampton City Council funding is by way of commercial property stock worth £700,000 being transferred to the Trust, at no cost. Therefore, when the investment programme is completed by 31 March 2004, the Trust will have assets worth around £2 million.

The Trust was able to secure a small amount of revenue funding from SEEDA to make sure it could function until it started to generate its own income. With £1.6 million already invested, this income should shortly come on stream to enable the company to ‘stand on its own two feet’.

It is important to understand that the Trust is governed by the same rules as any other ‘project’ in receipt of funding, in that it has to spend the money and then claim it back from the funder (SEEDA). This presented the Trust with an interesting problem that has been solved by working closely with its bankers.

What makes the Trust a Social Enterprise?

The Trust is trying to make money from commercial property investment, which is an extremely competitive and complex business. Therefore, we need to make sure we are at least as good as any private competitor of similar size in order to get the best returns from our investments. We need to pay attention to the market and associated market forces and work with the best professional advisers in order to ensure that we minimise the potential for exposure to adverse market conditions.

However, any money that the Trust makes, over and above its running costs and reserves, will be reinvested into the area known as West Itchen.

This reinvestment could take a number of different forms and a few examples are:

	Giving small grants to support or sponsor local events, such as the St Mary’s Community Festival
	Starting a small grants programme to encourage local people to set up in business in the area – you only need to look at the number of empty retail units in St Mary’s Street to see the potential for this type of initiative
	Supporting additional re-use and recycling initiatives
	Improving the street scene by supporting initiatives to reduce graffiti and rubbish
	Working to improve the facilities and opportunities available to local people, particularly young people

We know that the money produced from our business activities will always be fairly modest, but we can supplement this by:

1.	Looking for additional funding to help us deliver local projects, identified as priority areas
2.	Helping local community organisations to identify and obtain funding for projects they want to develop
3.	Using the Trust’s assets to develop capital projects in the area – this use may involve the assets being used as ‘match’ funding for projects or they may be used to raise money on a commercial basis to develop projects.

The Trust currently owns the following properties and has instructed Austin Adams to manage them.

Acorn Enterpise Centre

Empress Road, Southampton. There are 16 units, currently fully let which become available from time to time.

To check availability contact Emma Holloway at Austin Adams on 023 8033 8811.

1 Brunswick Place, Southampton

In central Southampton, overlooking parks. Comprises of large ‘open’ office spaces over 4 floors, Car parking for up to 8 vehicles is available. If you would like further details please contact Emma Holloway at Austin Adams on 023 8033 8811.

Photo of Brunswick Place

St Andrew’s Road

The Trust is able to let small office spaces on the ground floor of it’s premises at 64 – 65 St Andrew’s Road, Southampton. This space is intended to be let to local charitable, voluntary organisations. If you would like further details on these offices please contact Ian Weston at the Trust office.