Green
and ethical businesses are defying the grey economic climate and
booking up for the EcoVillage at the Kent County Show this year. The
EcoVillage is in its second year and is going from strength to
strength having expanded its space to over 5000sq m, showcasing over
80 exhibitors.

Visitors
to the Kent County Show can come and find ideas and inspiration for
greener living at The EcoVillage from a wide range of exhibitors -
we have everything from cars to insurance, clothes to garden
features, bikes to timber buildings – everything you need for
greener living!

If
gardening is your interest, Co-op will be giving away free wildflower
seeds as part of their Save the Bees Campaign, learn about growing
your own with the Soil Association, or get inspiration from English
Oak.

If
transport is your thing, come and see the Seat Ecomotive range -
three of the most eco-friendly cars on the market, or look at the
latest in electric bikes with Greased Lightening Cycles.

Paperpod
and Playmais will have plenty to keep children occupied and they’ll
love making their own smoothies with Move ‘n’ Smooth! Mums and
Dads will find it hard to resist treating them to clothes from Kidz
Organic or toys and games from Woodland Children.

The
Mark Group will be on hand for advice on making your home energy
efficient, while Invicta Clean Energy, Eternal Energy Systems, Solar
Age and Viridus Energie will be available to discuss how you can help
to power your home with renewable energy.

At
The EcoVillage 2009 visitors will discover exhibitors of all shapes
and sizes, arranged in village streets such as Energy Avenue and
Protect Kent Path, EcoVillage Hall and the Market Marquee. They can
also relax in the EcoVillage Green Picnic Area where Well Hung Meats
will be providing delicious organic food all day, or visit Goji Wah
Wah, a converted London Routemaster bus serving gourmet vegetarian
food.

We
are also please to be collaborating with sponsors Protect Kent and
Countrystyle Group this year, John Suffolk of Countrystyle Group
comments:

“Countrystyle
Group is pleased to be sponsoring the EcoVillage at this year’s
Kent Show.

The
EcoVillage is a great initiative for green business in the South East
and totally in keeping with the business philosophy of Countrystyle
Group. We hope that by supporting the event this year that we can
help to highlight the importance of protecting the environment.”

There
will be plenty to see and do at The EcoVillage, so come and find us
at this years’ Kent County Show to find out how easy it really is
to be green!

Notes
to editors:

The
EcoVillage will be at The Kent County Show at Detling 17th, 18th &
19th July 2009

The
EcoVillage is an event which promotes sustainable products, services
and organisations. Our aim is that a visit to an EcoVillage will
help people to live a greener life and help them save money!

The
EcoVillage will also be present at Construction Expo 2009. Held at
Chatham Maritime on 30^th
September, this event is a key event for construction professionals
in the South East.

The
EcoVillage was also present at the Kent 2020 Exhibition in April of
this year, a great event for

The
EcoVillage

For
more information about The EcoVillage please contact Vicky Whitlock
on 01227 271261, vicky@theecovillage.co.uk or visit
www.theecovillage.co.uk,
which we’ll be regularly updating.

Media
enquiries, high resolution photography and requests for interviews
for the EcoVillage should be forwarded to Vicky Whitlock.

A REGIONAL EVENT WITH INTERNATIONAL REACH
As ministers abandon plans to publish a community empowerment bill, Smart City Futures will give those communities a voice! It will bring together Global leaders from business, policy and research for a desperately needed, honest and open conversation about connectivity, collaboration and community empowerment.

WHO WILL BE THERE?

 High Level International Speakers Include:

Melissa Sterry                 CEO, Societás, UK
Prof Takeda Shuzaburo    Exec Director, Business Universities Forum, Tokyo
Veli-Pekka Niitamo          Research Director, NOKIA IT Living Labs, Netherlands
Prof Paul James              Director Global Cities, RMIT, Melbourne
Lesley Gavin                  BT’s first female futurologist, UK
Prof Carolyn Kagan         Psychology and Social Change, MMU, UK

WHAT and WHY?
A lack of transparency and a silo mentality is resulting in a global political, environmental and economic meltdown
Open,
honest debate and knowledge sharing will help global communities to
climb out of these economically and environmentally challenged times
Smart
City Futures will provide an honest, open forum that will break down
the walls between policy makers, industry leaders, Universities and the
communities they serve. Together they will explore open innovation and
talk about how to build the foundations for a more sustainable future
Day
3 of Smart City Futures, designed by Just-b. Productions, will bring
b.TWEEN magic into the mix to pull crucial conversations into the 21st
century at this landmark forum
Using web 2.0 technologies, this
innovative event will show how Universities can walk the walk and act
as catalysts for change. Smart City Futures will give communities a
voice and a chance to interact in real time with global leaders

All speakers will be able to answer unmoderated questions in this rare chance to talk directly and honestly about our future

NEW CHALLENGES CALL FOR NEW SOLUTIONS: What makes SCF different?

This
event will be packed with installations, conversations, workshops,
brainstorms and one to ones. Moving away from traditional formats,
technologies will invite participation and interaction throughout.
Sessions will look at a range of thought provoking topics and themes
such as:

Professional Futures: Innovation and Collaboration in the Professional realms;
Policy Futures: Towards a Framework for Sustainable Economies;
Community Futures: Empowering Communities

The more I read the news the more apoplectic I become. Basically it comes down to two core truths: Big Business Sucks; Big Politics sucks. The former has sucked everything and everybody dry, robbed us of all life. The latter has sucked up to the former and greased the wheels of legislation for a greased palm or two. The only realsitic way to stop this is to stop playing their game their way like a bunch of wet sheep on morphine.

OK, we’re all in this together – I’m guessing we have certain wish-list items in common. For example: we all want a world in which it’s safe for us to breathe, eat and drink; we’d like our children and grandchildren to have the same gorgeous natural surroundings we have been privileged to enjoy. We’d like to see less warfare and fear, more peace and laughter. We sometimes feel there’s little we can do to help. WRONG. Research shows there are 250 million of us – people who want a just and sustainable future (I’ll come back to this in future postings). Do the sums, we can make a HUGE difference, starting with where we shop and what we choose to buy. And better still, where and what we DON’T choose to buy.

FatWest, General Bloaters and Gainsburys don’t give a toss about us or our wellbeing. Why would we give them all the cash earned with our blood, sweat and tears? It’s like cooking lunch for someone who’s just mugged you.

Time to rebel. Be revolting – you have nothing to lose except your shackles…

Rob Weston, Schmeditor

Picks from the Market

EcoOutlet have a great range of ethical goodies. This fruit, vegetable and wheatgrass juicer not only requires no electricity, it actually produces higher-nutrient juices than the carbon-villain variety…

Well Cultivated – these guys are the real thing. They check everything, they really care about making a difference and they have seriously cool stuff. 

Natural Home Products are very rare – they have 20 years of specialist experience in seriously high-integrity bedding products, yet they make no self-important claims. They just take good care of their customers and provide superb products, again and again and again. Here, to prove the point, are two organic summer duvets to keep you cool at night:

Teramo Summer Organic Merino LambsWool Duvet
Firenze Summer Organic Cotton Duvet

Cool Green Attitude is a company founded by mums for kids and their families who want great clothes that look and feel wonderful and do no harm to others. If you are going to have attitude, this is the kind we want… have a look at their cool green t-shirts!

Picks from the Pulse

New Social enterprise round up from the Social Enterprise Coalition

Antartic Ice Shelf Destabilised

Ethical Junction gets on Twitter!  @ethicaljunction

The Environmental Transport Association slate the “car scrappage scheme”!

Produced daily by the Social Enterprise Coalition

CICs should get tax
relief

Hundreds of miles
of ice drop from Antarctic shelf

 Blears: ‘Recession
could cause civil unrest and fracture communities’

Continue reading for lots more…

National

CICs should get tax
relief

Gemma Hampson,
Social Enterprise Magazine

Community interest
companies (CICs) should be entitled to an equivalent of Gift Aid,
according to the law firm behind the legal structure. Abbie Rumbold,
a partner with Bates Wells and Braithwaite, which helped set up the
CIC structure four years ago, is working with the Social Enterprise
Coalition to push for tax relief for the 2,600 registered CICs. She
said the success of the CIC structure showed it was seen as a
valuable legal structure and that tax incentives would see it grow
even further.

http://www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk/sem/news/detail/index.asp?id=950

Learning from
others is a key to success

Social Enterprise
Magazine

John Pepin is
consultancy firm JPA’s Europe partner and has over 15 years as a
CEO of a variety of charities and social enterprises. He also has a
wealth of consultancy experience in many areas from strategic and
business planning, to collaboration, sales and mentoring.  Here,
he talks about his latest experience at a master class for social
entrepreneurs in Indonesia.  On 23-24 March in Jakarta, 18
social entrepreneurs gathered for a master class entitled Skills for
Social Entrepreneurs, Achieving Your Dreams: Growing Your Enterprise
Profitability, Enhancing Your Financial and Social Return.

http://www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk/sem/tradingplace/detail/index.asp?id=949

Filling the gap

Joanna Lyall, The
Guardian

As the government
looks for savings from public services, a small building in a
Derbyshire mining village could reshape the way we receive NHS dental
care. Here in South Normanton, Genesis Dental Care opened its first
practice as a social enterprise, welcoming NHS patients just months
after new contractual arrangement in April 2006 led to more than
1,000 dentists fleeing the NHS. “The nation seemed deprived of
dental solutions, and the new contract was going to make the needs
even more acute,” says former banker Steve Holmes, chief
executive of Genesis Social Enterprises.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/29/dentists-shortage-nhs

Reluctant role
model

Mary O’Hara, The
Guardian

As one idea after
another pours from Mark Brown, he comes across like the enthused
young editor of any start-up magazine – and with its playful design
and headlines like “Eat yourself fitter”, the magazine he
edits looks and feels like any lifestyle publication. But it isn’t.

….Brown recalls how,
sitting in a greasy spoon cafe in Camden, north London, a couple of
years ago, he and a few colleagues from the social enterprise Social
Spider, where he is a director, “knocked the idea around”
for a magazine that could plug the “information gap” for
people with mental illness.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/apr/29/one-in-four-mental-health

Blears: ‘Recession
could cause civil unrest and fracture communities’

Jon Land, 24dash

The recession could
tip Britain towards riots and civil disorder unless voluntary
organisations are handed extra resources, Communities Secretary Hazel
Blears will warn today. Promising to come up with sustainable sources
of funds by the summer, Ms Blears will say the economic downturn
could either drive communities apart or bring them closer
together.
….”Not ‘on your bike’ like previous recessions,
but how can we help you open a bike repair workshop, start a social
enterprise to encourage cycling, start a bike-share scheme in your
neighbourhood.

http://www.24dash.com/news/Local_Government/2009-04-29-Blears-Recession-could-cause-civil-unrest-and-fracture-communities

Barnardo’s to
deliver training contract to Doha charity

Charity Finance

Barnardo’s has
secured a six-figure contract to deliver training and professional
development to a children’s disability charity in Qatar.

In the first phase of
the partnership, the Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs
in Doha will be visited by Barnardo’s staff who will conduct a
needs analysis and decide what kind of training the Qatari employees
could best benefit from.
….The contract will be delivered by
Barnardo’s training social enterprise, tlc, which earns the charity
more than £700,000 a year.

http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php?id=2775&pg=15&cat=58

Nunn to leave
Futurebuilders in restructuring

Futurebuilders
England’s director of market development, Gill Nunn, is to leave
the organisation at the end of June as part of a “proposed
restructure” at the government funder. She will have been in the
post for nine months. According to Futurebuilders’ interim head of
press, Jo White, Nunn (pictured) has taken voluntary redundancy as
part of a proposed restructuring of the organisation.  White
said the restructure had been prompted by the winning of the contract
to deliver the Department of Health’s £100m Social Enterprise
Investment Fund. “The organisation needs to change to accommodate
that,” she said.

http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php?id=2772&pg=15&cat=58

Scottish SMEs
’should capitalise on public contracts’

Small Business

Public bodies in
Scotland are being encouraged to give small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) access to their contracts. Finance minister John
Swinney outlines a range of measures which can be taken to increase
the number of small firms, charities and social enterprises winning
public sector contracts. He suggests small businesses would benefit
from more promotion of the free Public Contracts Scotland online
portal which highlights opportunities. In addition, outcome-based
tenders which encourage innovation and payment terms that ensure
settlement within 30 days could make public sector contracts more
attractive.

http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/channels/sales-and-marketing/news/1021111/scottish-smes-should-capitalise-on-public-contracts.thtml

Local

Business Diary

North West Evening
Mail

A CUMBRIAN-based
organisation is behind a major social enterprise summit underlying
the sector’s key role in driving the North West out of
recession.NEW luxury hotel, Eden Lodge, owned by a German
businessman, opens at Bardsea. The event has been launched as new
figures reveal that the Third Sector is generating £2bn for the
region’s economy, employs 50,000 people and utilises the resources
of 30,000 volunteers. Kevin Brennan, Minister for the Third Sector,
will deliver the keynote speech at the event being put together by
Social Enterprise North West and Cumbria’s Social Enterprise
Partnership.

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/business_2_3069/business_diary_1_547339?referrerPath=raiders

Commissioner visit
to see EU funds helping economic development and regeneration

East Midlands
Development Agency

Danuta Hübner,
European Commissioner for Regional Policy, today visited the East
Midlands to witness first hand how European money is being used to
increase levels of innovation, productivity and enterprise. This
visit comes one year on from emda’s official launch of the region’s
new European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Competitiveness
Programme for the period 2007 – 2013
….ERDF is a valuable
source of funding for Local Authorities, universities, business
support intermediaries, entrepreneurs, social enterprises and
community organisations.

http://www.emda.org.uk/news/newsreturn.asp?fileno=3612

New grant unveiled
for Peak District Businesses

Staffordshire
Moorlands District Council

FARMERS and small
businesses in the Peak District have been urged to apply for a new
grant starting at £3,500. The plea was made this week by
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council after the European Union and
the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs agreed to
plough £1.9m into a Leader programme established for the Peak
District Rural Action Zone.

….The Leader
initiative is intended to improve productivity and quality of life in
the Peak District by funding projects drawn up by micro businesses
and social enterprises that are too small to qualify for the main
RDPE programme.

http://www.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=768

Helping disabled in
the workplace

Isle of Man Today

A COMBINATION of
corporate goodwill and one of the world’s largest auction websites is
set to become the launch pad for helping people with disabilities in
the Isle of Man into full time work. Friends Provident International,
one of the Isle of Man’s leading life and pension companies, has
helped fund start-up costs for a new office project in Douglas to be
run by the Crossroads charity.
….Now they have come up with the
novel idea of starting a Social Enterprise initiative, employing
people with disabilities to work in office premises above the main
shop, marketing and selling some of these donated products on eBay.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/isle-of-man-business/Helping-disabled-in-the-workplace.5202929.jp

Battle to reopen
Albion Leisure Centre

This is Nottingham

PROTESTERS who want to
reopen an Ilkeston leisure centre have been given new hope. They
gathered in Ilkeston ahead of an extraordinary meeting of Erewash
Borough Council yesterday. It was called to discuss the Albion
Leisure Centre which the council closed last year. Members of the
public formed the Friends of Albion Leisure Centre (FALC) and applied
to reopen the building as a social enterprise, but their bid was
rejected. Yesterday evening, around 50 people – many of whom were
children – gathered to protest about the rejection of the bid and
called for the council to reopen negotiations over the centre’s
future.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homenews/Hope-leisure-centre-campaigners/article-945413-detail/article.html

Of general interest

Politics:

Back expenses
changes, urges PM

BBC News Online

Gordon Brown has urged
MPs to back his planned expenses reforms in Thursday’s vote, despite
having dropped the main proposal for a daily allowance. He has faced
calls to delay any changes until after an independent inquiry but
says interim action must be taken now.

Tory MP Bill Cash
jibed Mr Brown about his “comedy turn on YouTube” – a
reference to the internet broadcast in which he outlined his original
plan. He told MPs he would keep using YouTube as an important
information tool.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8024433.stm

Business:

‘Talks to end
working time opt out fail’
Bob
Sherwood and Stanley Pignal, Financial Times

British employers
breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday after attempts to abolish the
UK’s right to opt out of European Union rules limiting a working
week to 48 hours finally disintegrated. The failure of marathon
negotiations between the European parliament and EU governments to
break the deadlock on the issue means UK companies will continue to
be able to offer staff the opportunity to work longer hours.  The
CBI employers’ organisation hailed the retention of the opt-out as
a “victory for common sense”. Pat McFadden, employment relations
minister, said the government had “refused to be pushed into a bad
deal for Britain”.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e7bd1924-33c3-11de-83af-00144feabdc0.html

Environment:

Hundreds of miles
of ice drop from Antarctic shelf

David Rising, The
Independent

New satellite images
from the European Space Agency show massive amounts of ice are
breaking away from a shelf on the western side of the Antarctic
Peninsula, researchers said today. The Wilkins Ice Shelf had been
stable for most of the last century, but began retreating in the
1990s. Researchers believe it was held in place by an ice bridge
linking Charcot Island to the Antarctic mainland.

But the
127-square-mile (330-square-kilometer) bridge lost two large chunks
last year and then shattered completely on 5 April.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/hundreds-of-miles-of-ice-drop-from-antarctic-shelf-1676149.html

Chorlton, Manchester
4 April 2009

Organised by local volunteers this event is being shaped by the help and support of dozens of Manchester based musicians, charities, organisations and community groups. The day wil feature:

• A fancy dress bicycle parade
• a food foraging walk
• A swap area
• A personal well being area
• A variety of topical films
• Lots of locally sourced food and drink
• A wealth of local plugged in and acoustic musicians
• Information and workshop spaces
• A variety of environment related talks

For full details please visit the festival website – www.greenchorlton.org.uk

Boutiko is offering 15% off all Fair Trade gifts throughout March. Click here > > >

New Ownership for One of the Country’s Best Backpackers Hostels

Deepdale Backpackers and Camping, the multi award winning backpackers hostel and campsite at Burnham Deepdale on the north Norfolk coast, will have new owners on 23rd February.

Louise Smith and Andrea Bramhall are relocating from the North West to Norfolk to follow a dream and have a complete change of lifestyle.  Gone are the days of office jobs, instead they’ll be welcoming guests to the hostels and campsite, and enjoying the open spaces and opportunities of the north Norfolk coast.

Louise – “I always loved the outdoor life and to run a campsite had
always been a dream – so when the opportunity at Deepdale came up it
was everything I could wish for and more.”

 Andrea – “There are moments in life where you look about you and you
feel like you have just come home.  This was how we felt the first time
we came to Deepdale.  This is a wonderfully exciting once in a lifetime
adventure that I can’t wait to begin!”

Louise and Andrea take over the business from Alister and Jason
Borthwick, father and son partnership, who built and managed the
business from a small campsite only open in August to a tourism
business that accommodated over 31,000 bed nights in 2008.

 “The new energy and ideas that Louise and Andrea bring to Deepdale will
be great for the business.  We had incredible interest from potential
tenants, over 150 enquiries, and Louise and Andrea fought off stiff
competition to become our preferred tenants.  They take on a strong
business, which we all hope they can continue to strengthen.  I now get
the chance to spend a lot more time with my wife and the ever
increasing number of grandchildren,” said Alister Borthwick.

Initially Louise and Andrea look forward to running the business along
the same lines, “why fix what isn’t broken”, and then put their mark on
the place by developing writers workshops, singles walking and biking
weeks, artists and photographers weeks and many other winter
activities.  They look forward to working with the local businesses in
the area, especially the businesses at Dalegate Market, another
development by Alister and Jason.

“There are many opportunities for us to look at.  We’re looking forward
to the challenges this first season will throw at us, but relish the
opportunity to take up the reins.  Lonely Planet already describes
Deepdale as one of the country’s best backpackers hostels and we plan
to keep it that way,” said Louise.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?  Well I do now!  Deepdale is a
beautiful and charming place; every visit has been an adventure for us,
and our two dogs, who have discovered the pure unadulterated joy of
chasing waves!” said Andrea.

As Louise and Andrea take the reins, Alister Borthwick will take a step
towards retirement and Jason Borthwick will look for the next
opportunity for the family business to invest in.  Hostels elsewhere in
the East of England are high on the list and he’s developing his
consultancy business, Earthly Ideas.  “I’m always on the look out for
suitable locations for hostels.  Backpackers love the East of England,
but are seldom catered for.  We know we have a successful formula at
Deepdale, which will only benefit from feeder hostels around the
region, so watch this space,” said Jason.

Louise and Andrea look forward to welcoming guests all year round in
the backpackers hostel, campsite, tipis, group hostel and visitor
information centre – www.deepdalebackpackers.co.uk

Collaboration: an essential for sustainable practices?
London, 12th February, 14:00 – 17:30

What are the recent experiences and best practices from public and private sectors?
How can organisations collaborate for greater impact?

There is a dramatic increase in attempts (and directives) to collaborate – both internally as well as externally. Open Minds has undertaken research in relation to this theme to establish, from people’s real experiences, insights and guiding principles that might help in ensuring the best possibility of collaborative efforts being successful.

Examples from UK public and private sectors as well as from India are
showing that collaboration, rather than competition, is proving to be a
far more effective strategy than competition.

Effective collaboration is going to be essential in helping address
some of the more complex challenges both within and between
organisations as well as in the broader sustainability field. We are
also keen to see how complexity science principles might help underpin
such attempts.

ASP collaborates with Open Minds and The Environment Council to run a half-day workshop in London on February 12th

Contributors (speakers)
Simon Hamilton, Director and Founder of Three Hands
Mike Jones, Director Learning & Leadership, Open Minds
Mark Lawrence, Head of UK Operations (logistics), Marks & Spencer
Sian Peake-Jones, Director and Founder Open Minds

Objectives
Identify the growing need for more successful forms of collaboration
Explore Open Minds’ research findings
Share participants’ own learnings and experiences
Understand the Open Minds’ Learning Network
Create connections

Outcomes
Participants will:
Understand how sustainability practices are inherently dependent upon new collaborative models
Learn about the research open Minds has undertaken collaboration:
The importance of Context
Logic as an inhibitor
The role of relationships and connectivity (and the strength of ‘weak’ ties)
Bounded freedom – unleashing the magic of self-organisation
Uncertainty as a given – ‘Black Swans’ (and staying open to surprises)
Edge effects – interfaces and boundaries as source of innovation and breakthroughs
Patterns and success indicators – recognising what’s in the process of breaking down as well what is breaking through
Share their experiences and learn collectively from others
Understand the distinctions between collaborations in different sectors  

Participants will be:
CSR and sustainability practitioners
Stakeholder engagement and communications practitioners
Academics working on related topics

Click here to find out more > > >

Several million ethical consumers offer two ways to boost your business prosperity…

There is a new Ethical Junction member company going live very soon. It is called Your Ethical Startup (YES Club) and will be encouraging people to set up their own ethical businesses. Don’t worry! – rather than creating competition for existing Ethical Junction members, it will be focused on increasing awareness among consumers of the need to spend their budgets more thoughtfully from now on. In this way, YES Club is intended to create MORE business for existing ethical traders. It is also designed to enable more mutual support between ethical enterprises, this will be facilitated by the YES Forum, to be launched at the same time as YES Club.

YES has something you might find extremely
interesting: access to several million ethical consumers. If you would
like to attract some of these to your business as paying customers via
the new company, you might wish to consider the following:

1. Offering a discount to YES Club and YES
   Forum members. A discount offered at the YES launch could win you many
   new customers who will stay with you for years to come.
2. Running an event – perhaps a seminar,
   workshop or conference – during Spring or Summer of 2009. Again, YES
   members would need to be offered a discount. If you can trade it, you
   can teach it – why not open up a whole new revenue stream? And if
   you’re already running courses or other events, then this is your
   chance to promote them to several million new ethically-aware customers.
   

Please let us know as soon as possible if you
are interested in participating – the YES website launches shortly and
we would like to include as many special discounts and events as
possible.

Please contact YES here: info@ecobloomfield.com

Social Enterprise Coalition
International Conference Centre, Birmingham
10 -11 February 2009

Now in its fifth year, Voice09 is the Social Enterprise Coalition’s annual conference for the social enterprise movement in the UK. This year’s event will focus on pushing the frontiers of where and how social enterprise does business, exploring new business models and ways of working.

This event will be the largest conference for social enterprise in the UK, high profile speakers from government and the sector are expected to speak alongside an agenda of workshops and seminars to help further the sector.

Voice09 promises to be our biggest and best conference yet! With
over 1,000 delegates and 80 exhibitors, Voice09 will be the world’s
largest ever social enterprise event, where you’ll hear from inspiring
social enterprise leaders, senior members of Government, and a wide
range of social enterprise experts. 

So who will be attending…?

• Managers, employees and board members of social enterprises
• Social entrepreneurs thinking of considering a new venture
• Social enterprise specialist support bodies
• Members and officers from local authorities
• Board members and staff from Regional Development Agencies
• Politicians and officials from government departments and devolved administrations
• Housing associations
• Voluntary organisations, charities and community organisations seeking to engage in enterprise activity
• Business advisors, Business Links
• Banks, CDFIs and other financial institutions
  

Voice09 will provide your business with…

• Plenty of time within the programme for delegates to visit stands
• A unique national platform to exhibit your services
• Fantastic networking opportunities with people from across the movement
• A chance to interact with your competitors and other sector representatives
  

Exhibition Stand Fees:

Corporate Rate  £1,499.00 + VAT
Government Support Body Rate  £1,249.00 + VAT
Reduced rate (Charities, Voluntary sector & Academic)   £899.00 + VAT
Social Enterprise rate  £699.00 + VAT
Supported rate – (This fee applies to direct members of the Social Enterprise Coalition only)  £649.00 + VAT
Space only stands (4m x 3m)  £2,000.00 + VAT

Please follow the link to take a look at the floor plan for the
conference  http://www.tcp-events.co.uk/voice09/exhibitionfloorplan.html

And to book your stand
http://www.tcp-events.co.uk/voice09/exhibitorregistration.html please
note space is limited so register early to avoid disappointment.

For more information or if you have any queries about  booking, please
contact me or the Voice09 Conference team on Tel: 01323 637714, Fax:
01323 637777,

Email: voice09@confpeople.co.uk  website: www.voice09.org We want to
make Voice09 the most educational, innovative and inspiring exhibition
experience for all.