Diary of a social enterprise – Part 1 is MCIN a Social Enterprise ?

MCIN is developing as a Community and Social Enterprise. What does that mean. In simple terms a social enterprise is a business trading for a social purpose. There is a broader definition, which can be found on the Social Enterprise Coalition web site. So is MCIN a social enterprise? Well according to the definition a Social Enterprise should have social or environmental objectives. MCIN has a number of these. Our broad objectives are

• to provide opportunities for people to develop ICT skills, access information, contribute to their communities and participate in society
• to highlight community activity, bring people together and support community regeneration through the use of ICT
• to build the capacity of the community and voluntary sector, providing information and promoting services utilising current and emerging technologies.

We have developed 3 business strands to support these objectives. Learn Net, Web Connect and ICT services all of which have direct social objectives or build skills of local communities. The governance of MCIN is through a board of directors who manage the organisation on behalf of the stakeholders. In addition Learn Net has a partnership group made up of stakeholders who manages its development. Web Connect is also developing a community reporters group in order to support its development and the Circuit Riders who are its stakeholders support the development of ICT services. So I think the answer to the question is MCIN a Social Enterprise has to be yes.