Member Article

Sussex Co-operative named top SouthEast social enterprise

Ecological Land Co-operative named top social enterprise in South East by RBS SE100 Index annual snapshot

Index designed to track growth and impact in the social economy highlights 2014 regional leaders

The Ecological Land Co-operative (ELC), an East Sussex based membership organisation dedicated to preserving sustainable rural livelihoods through agricultural smallholdings has been recognised as a leading social enterprise in this year’s RBS SE100 annual snapshot of 2014, with an incredible growth percentage of 2,294 %.

The RBS SE100 Index is an online listing of social ventures, ranked and scored according to their growth and social impact. The live market intelligence platform is designed to provide a substantial data resource for investors, commissioners and policymakers as they seek to understand the landscape of the social economy and identify top performers across the UK.

In the annual data snapshot for 2014, registered social enterprises in the South East show an average growth of 88% and a total combined turnover of £847 million. The South East accounts for 8% of the total registered RBS SE100 Index users, with 94 social enterprises on the Index in the region.

ELC was established in 2007 to provide affordable sites for ecological land-based livelihoods. The co-operative and its members seek to address a range of complex and deep-rooted social and environmental challenges in a uniquely simple, pragmatic way: by removing barriers to land access for sustainable uses. Its smallholdings are aimed at new entrants to horticulture and mixed farming, and it protects its sites for affordability and ecological agricultural use.

Zoe Wangler, Managing Director at ELC said: “We reached an exciting stage in our development , with the sale of our first smallholdings in 2013. We are currently looking to the future, revising our business plan, and creating detailed long-term financial modelling in preparation for the launch our upcoming community share offer.

“Our first project is a cluster of three affordable smallholdings for new entrants to organic horticulture at Greenham Reach, Devon. Having successfully developed this first site, we are seeking to fund the development of our next site via withdrawable community shares in 2015.

It is amazing to have our progress recognised by the RBS SE100 Index, which has proved useful in validating our social impact to funders and stakeholders“.

Over the past 5 years, the average growth of enterprises across the Index has been 45%. The RBS SE100 Index data set is made up of the 1,1,57 social enterprises with profiles on se100.net, all of which have at least two years worth of financial data, including turnover and profit loss figures.

Eric Munro, Director of Community Banking, RBS: “ RBS has been supporting businesses set up to solve social problems for many years. The RBS SE100 Index and the annual snapshots in particular allow us to recognise the successes of new ventures, track growth and progress of Index users over the past year, as well as provide a wider view of the social enterprise landscape as a whole. As it enters its 6th year, the RBS SE100 index remains a vital source of information for a growing number of businesses and a key initiative in our commitment to the success of the social enterprise sector.“

The RBS SE100 Index is open to any organisation delivering social, environmental or economic change. It is created by Matter&Co in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland and RBS Inspiring Enterprise, with the support of Buzzacott and the SROI Network. For more information visit se100.net

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by RBS SE100 Index .