Today is World Social Enterprise Day.
Social Enterprise Day is global movement that celebrates and acknowledges the importance of social impact entrepreneurship.
In 2024 Social Enterprise Day marks the halfway point in our 5-year Future Bedford strategy.
Our transformative vision to diversify Bedford is coming to life and we are proud to employ hundreds of South Australians across our social enterprise businesses. These businesses continue to amplify our purpose to offer choice and opportunity in employment pathways for those experiencing barriers to work, including people living with disability.
What is a social enterprise?
Over the last few years, you may have seen the phrase ‘social enterprise’ appear more and more. But what is a social enterprise? And how do they benefit all of us?
A social enterprise is a business that exists to create social good, with a strong purpose to address social, cultural or environmental issues, in turn, benefiting the community it serves. One of the key actions that makes a business a social enterprise is the reinvestment of profits back into its services and mission.
In the case of Bedford-backed social enterprises, they create open employment opportunities for people who have faced barriers due to disability, life experience or background.
When we talk about social enterprises, often the phrase ‘social procurement’ pops up. These two ideas go hand in hand, with social procurement being about how businesses use their financial capital to facilitate social good through their purchasing power. This means that when an organisation is looking to procure a product or service, they will purposefully seek out a social enterprise.
By buying a Bedford product or service, or partnering with us, you are providing job opportunities for people experiencing barriers to employment. In turn, assisting you to meet your ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) targets.
Social Impact generation
First launched in 2023, Bedford-backed Social Enterprises are making real-life impact.
The benefits of open employment can create a cascade of social, financial and health benefits for employees with disability, in addition to economic benefits through increased wages and taxes, reduction in Disability Support Pension payments and NDIS payments.
To quantify it, we have partnered with the Centre for Social Impact at Flinders University to calculate these social and economic benefits, so we can measure and value the impact these social enterprises will deliver to the wider community.
Here are some of the results achieved to date, in Bedford-backed enterprises;
| People with disability transitioned to open employment: | 25 |
| *Social Impact generated: | $272,450 |
| Average increase in hourly wage: | 79% |
*No. of People with disability in open employment x % increase in wage x no. of hours in FY24
Bedford-backed social enterprises
In response to a lack of jobs in the community for people with disability, in 2023 Bedford first established its portfolio of social enterprises that offer a diverse range of open employment jobs to those experiencing barriers to work.
The first Bedford-backed social enterprise to launch was Cultivate Food and Beverage. Opening in Brooklyn Park, and later acquiring a bakery in the Adelaide Hills, Cultivate's purpose is to delivery quality food and beverage products while scaling social impact. Cultivate has secured partnerships and investment, and has several well-known SA bakery brands under production, with a national retail distributorship.
GreenInc Landscape Construction soon followed, with depots across metropolitan Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills. Partnering with developers and local councils, GreenInc delivers large scale custom landscape design and implementation, community recreation space establishment and maintenance.
Bedford’s largest social enterprise is Dovetail Advanced Manufacturing, which has a 20-plus year history in timber manufacturing for commercial clients across Australia and New Zealand. Dovetail is one of Australia’s largest manufacturers of flat-pack furniture and works to increase social good through its business practices.
Each social enterprise provides training and education, either on-the-job up-skilling or with Registered Training Organisations (RTO's) that provide formal certifications, to give employees the opportunity to advance their career in their chosen industry. Bedford-backed social enterprises aim to close the employment gap for people living with disability and proudly boast work-forces of all-abilities.
Bedford-backed social enterprises are 'profit-for-purpose' businesses and exist to reinvest profits back into the purpose of providing jobs, opportunities and pathways for people with disability.