Wrexham community organisation shortlisted in UK Social Enterprise Awards

A Wrexham-based community organisation has been named a finalist in the UK Social Enterprise Awards, recognising businesses which are transforming society.

Empower – Be The Change has been shortlisted for the Team of the Year award, acknowledging the organisation as one of the leading social enterprises in the country.

Established in May 2016 the organisation delivers accredited qualifications, training and coaching to empower people and teams to build positive mental resilience, fully realise their self-worth and achieve their potential with the primary mission to reduce
unemployment, reduce poverty and increase community cohesion and individual soft skills.

Up to March 2020 Empower -Be The Change’s primary focus was classroom based ILM qualifications. However the pandemic caused a change in how services are provided, with the qualifications now provided online.

New products and services have also been set-up to “meet the needs” of the local community.

This includes one to one coaching and mentoring, Institute of Leadership approved training and well-being workshops.

In the last 12 months alone Empower – Be The Change has increased its staff base, donated £900 to local foodbanks, delivered nine ILM courses with 77 participants gaining qualifications and delivered well-being workshops.

Commenting on being shortlisted, Jo Clay founder and innovation lead, said: “Empower – Be The Change is so proud to be a finalist for this national award and to be acknowledged as a leading social enterprise among so many other fantastic organisations.

“It’s an honour to be a finalist for the Team of the Year award, to have the teams strength, passion & resilience recognised in these extremely challenging times is a real achievement in of itself.”

Social enterprises are businesses which trade for a social or environmental purpose. There are 100,000 social enterprises in the UK contributing £60bn to the UK economy, each one being set up to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face from homelessness to the climate emergency.

The UK Social Enterprise Awards run by Social Enterprise UK, the national membership body for social enterprises, recognise the nation’s most pioneering social enterprises. Empower – be The Change will be joining other shortlisted organisations at the prestigious awards ceremony held at London’s iconic Guildhall on 8 December.

This year the Awards featured two new categories one recognising a Social Enterprise Building Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Justice and the other for the Social Enterprise Team of the Year – a category specifically acknowledging those teams which have demonstrated the strength, passion and resilience so characteristic of the social enterprise sector over an extremely challenging year.

Previous winners have included a company set up to tackle furniture poverty, an IT consultancy employing people with autism and a community energy co-operative – demonstrating just how diverse the social enterprise sector is.

Commenting on the Awards, Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK Peter Holbrook said: “The UK Social Enterprise Awards are back, bigger and better than ever before.

“We have had a record number of applications this year, all of which have showcased the strength, dynamism and resilience of the social enterprise community through what’s been an incredibly difficult and uncertain period.

“Over the course of the pandemic social enterprises have been going above and beyond the call of duty to support their teams, the individuals, and communities they work with, showing the grit, determination and innovation so inherent to this sector. They’ve been operating directly on the frontline of the crisis, launching new products and pivoting their business models to meet the needs of communities and society as a whole.

“The Awards are all about celebrating the achievements of the UK’s social enterprise movement, which is showing us that another way of doing business is possible – one which has never been more important as we look to build back better and address the climate
emergency.”