Social Enterprise Award Winners Announced
18 June 2014 at 10:40 am
Leaders of Australia’s emerging social enterprise sector have been recognised with the announcement of the winners of the 2014 Social Enterprise Awards.
Now in its second year, the ‘SE Awards’, hosted by specialist social enterprise development organisation Social Traders in conjunction with PwC, recognised those investing and buying in the social enterprise sector.
High-profile social enterprise, Thankyou, took home an award for the second consecutive year, winning the Social Innovation Award after last year taking out the ‘Youth-led’ category.
Thankyou Group co-founder and Managing Director, Daniel Flynn said he was thrilled that the venture had again been recognised alongside its peers in the social enterprise space.
“When we launched Thankyou Group in 2008, the concept of social enterprise was relatively new in Australia. It's extremely encouraging to see that over the years it's becoming an expanding and dynamic industry.
“Hopefully this award will further raise awareness of the opportunity to really make a difference through business and help us spread the message behind what we do at ThankyouGroup,” Flynn said.
The new category, for social enterprise investment, was won by The Integrated Medical Centre (TIMC) in Melbourne, with investment from Social Ventures Australia (SVA) and Social Traders.
“TIMC is very excited to win the Social Enterprise Investment award, it is great to be acknowledged as providing a progressive and innovative model of health care and we are proud of the partnerships we have formed with both Social Ventures Australia and Social Traders,” Lyn Morgain, CEO of TIMC’s parent organisation Cohealth, said.
Social enterprises, businesses that exist primarily to benefit the public and the community, rather than their shareholders and owners, are commercially viable businesses with a purpose of generating social impact.
Finalists were judged on their impact, their ability to demonstrate leadership in the sector and good governance.
Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Mitch Fifield attended the awards presentation in Melbourne and spoke about the importance of social enterprise in complementing the Government policy and practice for supporting social services.
This year the Awards received 87 applications across the six categories.
The winners of the awards are:
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR (SMALL)
SEED Parks and Property Maintenance (SEED PPM) employs previously long-term unemployed people in North Brisbane to deliver commercial landscape maintenance, residential gardening and commercial cleaning services. (QLD)
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR (LARGE)
Clean Force Property Services is a commercial contract cleaning service providing employment for people from disadvantaged backgrounds including those with disability and mental illness. The social enterprise is a subsidiary of WISE Employment Ltd. (VIC)
ONE-TO-WATCH AWARD
The 40K Group delivers training programs to Australian students and corporate organisations to operate more socially minded businesses. Profits from these programs are invested into delivery of education in India. (NSW)
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT AWARD
The Integrated Medical Clinic, investment by Social Ventures Australia, Social Traders and cohealth. (VIC) The Integrated Medical Clinic (TIMC) is a General Practice and allied health medical clinic owned by North Yarra Community Health (NYCH), a large not-for-profit community health centre based in Collingwood, Victoria. TIMC’s profits will be used to subsidise free and below-cost community health services offered by NYCH.
SOCIAL INNOVATION AWARD
Thankyou Group (formerly Thankyou Water) was created to fund water, food, health and hygiene projects in developing nations. The Group derive their profits from the sale of bottled water, food and body care products in a range of retailers across Australia. (VIC)
BUY SOCIAL AWARD
The City of Gold Coast has developed a procurement strategy and implemented new processes to directly deliver social outcomes to their community. The ‘social benefits provider procurement’ and ‘buy-local’ procurement strategies harness the purchasing power of the Council to create hundreds of jobs in the Gold Coast area. (QLD)
