Social enterprise conference in Portugal

“Just been invited to a social enterprise conference in Portugal to talk about our 25 year journey.

I have been fortunate enough to attend many such gatherings in a fair number of European countries over the last few years. What surprises me is that wherever I have been, it soon becomes obvious that the social enterprise sector here is so much bigger, more developed, more diverse and more resilient than that in Europe. Yes, many nations might have bigger, better funded charity/state-supported third sectors, but in terms of financial self-reliance and longer-term financial sustainability, the UK is well ahead of the pack.

Yes, we at CWR have just celebrated 25 years of financially-independent operation, but without the open-mindedness and cooperation (and their willingness to take a bit of a risk) of our early-adopter construction clients, we would not have made it out of nappies! Thankfully, we are seeing social enterprises flourish in every sector – working to create more sustainable communities and assist those who might otherwise get left behind – and hopefully more and more of them will still be contributing two and a half decades on. Gosh I feel old.”

– Richard M.