UMi ANNOUNCES BEST SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS ACROSS THE UK

UMi, in partnership with Social Enterprise Mark, Inspiring Women Changemakers and the School for Social Entrepreneurs, have announced this year’s Social Entrepreneur Index of individuals who are leading the way.

We celebrate the social impact, creativity and innovation of 55 of the UK’s most inspiring social entrepreneurs. We have also indicated 19 companies that are “ones to watch” – the judges felt in the coming year these will be entrepreneurs that will be making a significant impact.

The campaign focuses on the entrepreneurs behind the businesses, telling their story and providing inspiration to thousands of others in the process.

We would like to thank our judges for taking the time to read through each nomination and giving us their expert opinions on this year’s Index. This year’s judges are Rachel Fell – Social Enterprise Mark; Kate Welch – Social Enterprise Acumen; Kat Luckock - Social Entrepreneur Coach; Josie Armitage - Josie Armitage Associates; Louise Graham - Impact Mentor and Coach; and Arabela Silva - Inspiring Women Changemakers.

UMi’s Chief Executive, Nicki Clark, explained: “Over many years, UMi has been celebrating and inspiring entrepreneurship across the UK. As part of this focus, the UK Social Entrepreneur Index is a celebration of entrepreneurs running businesses with social purposes who we hope will also act as beacons of inspiration for others to encompass positive social impact. We’ve been delighted with the response and quality of entries and in it’s second year we have doubled the Index and the entrepreneurs recognised.”

The UK Social Entrepreneur Index has received the support of eight ambassadors who were selected for being shining examples of how social entrepreneurs can make an impact on a local and international level. They have invested their time to help inspire current and future social entrepreneurs. They are: Lucy Findlay MBE – Social Enterprise Mark; Andrew Bastawrous - Peek Vision; Cameron Saul - BOTTLETOP; Kate Welch - Social Enterprise Acumen CIC; Lucy Buck - Child’s i Foundation; Paul Skidmore - Rising Academies; Rachel Wang - Chocolate Films; and Rosie Ginday - Miss Macaroon.

The full index is now live at https://www.socialentsindex.co.uk