The role of social enterprise in regional development

Regional development is traditionally evaluated in economic terms, such as job creation, sales turnover and profit generation; however such measures fail to acknowledge the broader social and environmental contribution of entrepreneurship to the economy. Social enterprises are businesses that trade for a social purpose, they aim to achieve social and/or environmental goals and generate at least part of their income from trading. Their outcomes therefore include business achievements as well as social and/or environmental gains. To begin with, this paper outlines the nature of regional and local development and considers the contribution of enterprise to development. The paper then focuses on social enterprises and their contribution to development and presents three case study examples that illustrate the social, economic and environmental contribution of social enterprises to local and regional development. In conclusion, five development challenges for social enterprise are outlined and suggestions to overcome these barriers are offered.