Social Enterprise Conference: Meet the Speakers

Abiola Ajetomobi

ASRC Innovation Hub

Unlocking the potential of social enterprise, ensuring the active engagement of all relevant stakeholders is mobilised. All parties having influence on the direction a social enterprise venture is taking is a key success factor, not only in the ability to maintain momentum but also how quickly it can scale up.

Alex Houlston

Energy for the People

The sector needs a standardised approach to measuring, verifying and benchmarking social impacts. The ability to compare the direct social impact of enterprises (based on the issue they’re addressing, regardless of what industry they work in) would allow government and investors to “pick winners” based on their proven impact.

Eugenia Flynn

The Social Studio

To flip it around – what if the marginalised and disadvantaged were viewed as valuable assets, rather than just people to be helped? How different would our businesses, our world, be then?

Frank Cresia

Waverley Industries

Developing a new Social Enterprise logo, supported by a continuous media and marketing campaign message delivered by a well-known personality explaining the story of what Social Enterprises represent, the benefits and outcomes they achieve in making our communities a better place for all to live and work in.

Jenna Moffat

Clickability

Wow! This is a fun question!

Social enterprise offers so much scope for NFPs in the disability sector to move into the new “marketised” world of the NDIS. At their core, these organisations have strong social purpose but they need to be supported by sustainable business modelling. This is something that wasn’t needed in the previous block-funded system. We can learn a lot from social enterprises and use them to bridge ideals about money making and the need not just sustainability, but profit and growth in order to generate more social good. I don’t necessarily have an idea to do this! I think it’s going to take some examples of successful social enterprises, that measure and grow their impact, to SHOW the sector how it can be done.

Samuel Marwood

Cultivate Farms & Edge Pledge

We need to unlock the investment needed to foster and scale social enterprises. To secure this investment we need to give confidence to investors that this is an excellent opportunity. We give confidence by showcasing successful business models and by following individuals who have proven success.

Sarah Chisholm

Soft Landing, Resource Recovery

To continue to progress sustainable and inclusive procurement policies so that positive environmental and social outcomes become front and centre of doing good business. And to foster an environment of collaboration not competition, so that a range of social enterprises and community development programs can move forward brick by brick to create a world that is more equitable.