Spark Social Conference 2022: Purpose to Profit

Spark Social Conference 2022: Purpose to Profit

Register for the event here: https://yesdeck.co.uk/sparksocial/

After a break in 2020 due to the pandemic, this year’s conference returns as a half-day virtual event.

What is a social enterprise? What is social value? How can social enterprises grow and engage better with the private sector in Shropshire?

We live in constantly changing times and customers are now more interested than ever in the provenance of products and services and their potential environmental and social impact.

SPARK Social Conference: Purpose to Profit — run by Shropshire Council and the Marches Growth Hub Shropshire — has been designed to bring social enterprises and private sector companies together to take advantage of this new emerging business landscape.

For private sector companies the event will feature presentations and webinars to explain terms like ‘social value’ and ‘corporate social responsibility’, highlight businesses that are already working profitably with social enterprises across the county, and reveal how embracing social value can benefit not only your local community, but also positively impact your bottom line.

For social enterprises, the event will encourage online networking with private sector companies and showcase the amazing social enterprises that have helped to earn Shropshire ‘Social Enterprise Place’ status.

You will have access to webinars on sales and marketing, hear expert advice on how to engage more effectively with the private sector and learn more about best practice from the brightest and best of Shropshire’s social enterprises.

Guest speakers include Mark Barrow, Shropshire Council’s Executive Director of Place; Andrew O’Brien, Director of External Affairs at Social Enterprise UK — the UK’s leading authority on social enterprise; Sonia Roberts, CEO of Shropshire-based supported employment and training charity Landau; and Michelle John, founding director of PEGS, which supports parents, carers and guardians impacted by Child to Parent Abuse.

Conference delegates will also hear from Joe Lockley, co-founder of pioneering Shropshire boxing club Bright Star Boxing Academy, John Clarke from award-winning CIC Social Telecoms and Mark Bebb from premier caravan supplier Salop Leisure in a series of pre-recorded interviews.

There will be a panel discussion drawing on expertise from Shropshire’s very own social enterprises and private sector businesses. Members of the panel include Sonia Roberts from Landau, Nicky Kent from Social Heart CIC, John Clarke from Social Telecoms and Neal Hooper from Aico.

There will be two webinar streams running throughout the conference, one for private sector businesses and the other for social enterprises.

Topics to be covered include:

Corporate stream:

1) Social value and why it makes commercial sense — delivered by Heidi Fisher from Make an Impact CIC.

2) The DNA of corporate social responsibility — building a framework into business, getting buy in at all levels and making it a part of doing business — presented by Aico.

3) Social value in procurement — how to bring social value into the procurement process and embedding it in the supply chain — presented by Balfour Beatty.

Social enterprise stream:

1) Why create a social enterprise and work with private businesses — delivered by Nicky Kent from Social Heart CIC.

2) Finding, framing and delivering your story – using media to your advantage and bringing together a concise message – presented by Ben Anderson and Ed Nell from Media Insiders.

3) Closing a sale and how to highlight to private sector companies the benefits of buying from a social enterprise — delivered by Alan Adams from Horizons.

Throughout the conference, there will be an opportunity to hear from a range of Shropshire-based social enterprises about their work and successes as well as private sector companies who are embracing social value.

There will also be a virtual exhibition for social enterprises and if you are interested in exhibiting, please contact [email protected] to find out more.

The conference will be streamed virtually from the Yarrington studios in Shrewsbury between 10am and 1.30pm and will be hosted by Shropshire Business editor and Shropshire Business Live TV presenter Carl Jones. Register for the event here https://yesdeck.co.uk/sparksocial/

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