3 February 2010

National event held in Cardiff showcases Wales and social enterprise

 Voice10, the Social Enterprise Coalition’s annual conference, took place 1 and 2 February in Cardiff at the International Arena, and saw close to 1,000 delegates meet to debate and discuss the conference theme ‘No More Business as Usual.’

The conference also saw the launch of the Social Enterprise Mark, a new brand for social enterprises (www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk) that will identify businesses which meet defined criteria for social enterprise, and help consumers  recognise that businesses displaying the Mark are trading to benefit society and the environment. The launch included a performance by Cardiff-based social enterprise NoFit State Circus.

For a full round up of the two day event visit the Social Enterprise Mark blog or view the Voice10 channel on USTREAM where you can watch videos of the key plenaries as well as the Mark launch.  Images from the conference can be viewed at the Coalition Flickr photostream and visit Twitter to see what the online community thought of the event.

There were many incredible speakers at the conference, including Philip Blond, director of think tank ResPublica; Ed Mayo, Secretary General of Cooperatives UK; Angela Smith, Minister for the Third Sector; Carwyn Jones, First Minister for Wales; John Bennett, managing director of award-winning Welsh social enterprise Pack-IT;  Caroline Mason from Investing for Good CIC; and John Bird, founder and editor-in-chief of the Big Issue.

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