The Social Enterprise Longford (SEL)

Both of these assumptions are misleading and damaging, as they suggest that enterprises can succeed without assistance and that current support structures are adequate. 

 

Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of community development is fully aware that communities across Ireland are bursting at the collective seam with great ideas, initiatives and plans. 

 

But that abundance of natural talent is mirrored by an absence of adequate resources - financial and physical - and inadequate support systems. At the moment most social enterprises rely on local goodwill and volunteerism to survive. 

 

The Social Enterprise Longford (SEL) programme was established to try and rectify this deficiency. 

There is no plan that cannot be bettered through learning and external critically supportive review and analysis. The real task of the Longford pilot was to prove this instinctive truth. 

 

People and communities require the skills and capacity to help themselves. The report of the Social Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Task Force identified social enterprise as a valuable but hidden aspect of the Irish economy.

 

However few state support systems are open to it. “This contrasts with the substantial palette of supports available to private sector, which includes over 28 tax breaks, a government department with a budget of €2 billion and a variety of support agencies ranging from County Enterprise Boards and Enterprise Ireland to specialist agencies such as An Bord Glas.” 

 

Equality means nothing if it does not mean equality of opportunity. 

Work began in January 2012 as project organisers set out to canvas the local community and find credible projects that could, with some support and guidance, be brought to fruition. 

 

In that sense, the SEL programme was to act as an incubator for local social enterprise. 

The first stage involved advertising and awareness-raising efforts that were run through local media outlets. 

 

Despite the near perfect storm that has engulfed the media industry, forcing wholesale closures and job losses, local media in Ireland has retained the ear of the community and is often the primary news source for people outside the major urban areas. 

 

Trusted voices travel further. 

 

In addition we utilised the contacts and networks of a number of community groups to ensure news of the initiative reached key targets. These included LCRL, the Community and Voluntary Fora, the Chamber of Commerce, the GAA and the Longford Youth Service. 

Leaflets were also circulated in schools and charity retail outlets. 

 

But this public phase followed only after consultations with local groups and research carried out to better understand the prevailing enterprise and social environments. 

 

An advisory group comprising of LCRL, local business and community leaders as well as Clann Credo social enterprise experts was also established to advise on and monitor the programme. 

Healthy Scepticism 

 

The initial waves of publicity were designed to attract interested parties to a series of information evenings, where expert speakers would outline how the Social Enterprise Longford project would work. 

Almost 50 people attended the three information evenings in early April, which were held in Granard, the EDI Centre and Lanesboro. 

 

Not all were immediately taken with the project. Some welcomed the initiative immediately, some maintained a healthy scepticism. 

 

It could hardly have been otherwise. Many recalled how the community and voluntary sector only ever seems to get to the front of the line when programmes are being eliminated or downgraded. 

In recent years, they have seen wave after wave of cuts and job losses wash over communities and towns thinned out by emigration. 

 

Longford has been hard hit, with unemployment in the county and the wider region running well above the national average. 

 

Ultimately, it is not the absence of material or financial resources that kills communities, but the absence of hope.And this is what gives the SEL initiative its urgency. 

 

In the longer term, this is about restoring much of what has been stripped away in the last five years of crisis, of tapping the great wealth that lurks beneath the surface of each community and exploiting it for the gain of all. 

The key to the process was listening to participant feedback, particularly when it identified the supports needed. 

 

This informed the development of a number of detailed workshops that examined key areas of business in greater depth: marketing, financial planning, human resources and enterprise structure. 

 

Indeed, a key outcome of the initial workshops was the organisation of two further workshops specifically to look at low budget marketing and how to pitch ideas. 

 

At each stage, participants gained in knowledge and confidence as the worth of the initiative became clearer, as extracts from participant feedback demonstrates: 

 

“Every piece of information was relevant – I really enjoyed it all and found it all excellent.” 

“The simplified approach took the mystery out of finance and brought it down to basics without overwhelming me.” 

 

“The questions forced me to step back and take an overview on the proposed project.” 

Following the comprehensive workshop and mentoring programme, it was the turn of participants to develop concrete business plans for their enterprise ideas, to turn that original insight into a clear, workable proposal. 

 

A total of 10 proposals were submitted by December 2012 and considered by an Assessment Panel, comprised of representatives from LCRL, the County Enterprise Board and Clann Credo. 

 

The panel applied rigorous criteria to each project, judging them on their capacity to create jobs, on their financial viability and on whether a clear market for each product or service had been identified. 

Ultimately eight projects emerged from this searching process, with each having been identified as having real potential. 

 

They were: Creative Ardagh, Royal Canal Kayak Hire, Lus na Gréine, Revamp 3R, Keeping House, Longford CIL, Drumlish Health Pavilion and EDI Catering. 

 

A further initiative - from Granard Community Development - entered the process at a later stage, while the promoter of Royal Canal Kayak Hire put the project on hold until a later date. 

 

The winners then underwent a further phase of mentoring and advice clinic bootcamp, as each participant was sent back to the drawing board to re-examine their original plan. 

 

The aim was to identify weaknesses, maximise strengths and hone proposals until they were pitch perfect. 

 

The plans were then resubmitted for a second assessment with accompanying pitches. 

Those that emerged successfully from that process now face the biggest test of all: making their plans work in practice and building social enterprises that will endure down the years. 

 

We have no doubt that they will succeed and are certain that they are just the first of many. 

 

 

 

 

Clann Credo is committed to partnering with sustainable companies and working locally to improve the social, economic and environmental well-being of all communities.