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A business case for supporting community micro-enterprise development

Evidence-based research by the New Economic Foundation and the University of Birmingham.


Summary

  • Community micro-enterprises are well-placed to deliver support that generates positive outcomes for people and their families, and contribute to wider social and economic policy priorities
  • They can adapt and change with the changing needs of their communities
  • They create wider benefits to their communities through ‘ripple effects’ (which are often harder to capture and quantify)

“I think it is really important what we do actually. I think there are a lot of people that live on their own, whether they are in care homes or elsewhere, and they are really, really lonely, and really isolated, and culturally have very, very little access. So, if you are actually asking people to do some of the things that we ask them to do, you are really taking them into a completely different space which people are slightly challenged about, but they never say no, ever!”

CME reflecting on why they seek to tackle social isolation and loneliness in the design of their services