Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector Alfred Ngaro and Minister for Māori Devlopment Te Ururoa Flavell say Government funding will help support the growth of businesses working to make a difference in their communities.
Speaking to an audience of Social Enterprises and policy leads at the Social Enterprise Summit in Parliament today, Ministers announced $1.85 million of government funding to help grow the Social Enterprise sector and research about to begin on how the business model is working in New Zealand.
Community and Voluntary Sector Minister, Alfred Ngaro says, “Social enterprise is one of the most exciting new trends in business.
“Increasingly we know that people are looking for ‘meaning’ in their work and the social enterprise model is a great way of achieving that. Using traditional commercial business practices to meet social goals is a clever idea and is making a real difference in communities across the country.
“This funding will help grow that impact while our planned research will help us understand the size, scale and value of Social Enterprise in New Zealand.”
Minister for Māori Development, Te Ururoa Flavell co-hosted the event and highlighted how the model is one that will be familiar to Māori.
Ngaro says, “The ingenious approach of social enterprises using standard business practices to support social aspirations and missions was pioneered by our tīpuna.
“Iwi organisations, Māori social service providers, Marae Trusts, and Māori Land Trusts are all independent entities using business infrastructure and commercial strategies to generate income which is then redirected to improve social outcomes for iwi and Māori.
“As a Government we’ve made a commitment to help the sector grow and the discussions and announcements coming out of this Summit will do just that.
“I’m excited to see how both the Summit and the Social Enterprise World Forum taking place in Christchurch later this year, tap into the great work being done by so many kiwis and how they’ll act as a springboard for many others waiting in the wings.”