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Alfred Ngaro and Te Ururoa Flavell
Wellington, July 4, 2017
Government funding will help support the growth of businesses working to make a difference in their communities.
The Government has announced $1.85 million of government funding to help grow the Social Enterprise sector and research about to begin on how the business model is working in New Zealand.
Exciting trend
Social enterprise is one of the most exciting new trends in business.
Increasingly we know that people are looking for meaning in their work and the social enterprise model is a great way of achieving that. Using traditional commercial business practices to meet social goals is a clever idea and is making a real difference in communities across the country.
This funding will help grow that impact while our planned research will help us understand the size, scale and value of Social Enterprise in New Zealand.
Supporting social aspirations
The ingenious approach of social enterprises using standard business practices to support social aspirations and missions was pioneered by our tpuna.
Iwi organisations, Maori social service providers, Marae Trusts, and Maori Land Trusts are all independent entities using business infrastructure and commercial strategies to generate income which is then redirected to improve social outcomes for iwi and Maori.
As a Government, we have made a commitment to help the sector grow and the discussions and announcements coming out of this Summit will do just that.
We are excited to see how both the Summit and the Social Enterprise World Forum taking place in Christchurch later this year, tap into the great work being done by so many kiwis and how they will act as a springboard for many others waiting in the wings.
Alfred Ngaro and Te Ururoa Flavell are respectively Community and Voluntary Sector and Maori Development Ministers of New Zealand. The above is a part of their address at the Social Enterprises Summit held in Parliament today.