Protected: DRAFT – Public sector contracts: resources for charities and social enterprises

Dr Birgit Kehrer, founder of award-winning ChangeKitchen CIC based in Balsall Heath, Birmingham, has been recognised as one of the UK’s 100 most inspiring female entrepreneurs. Birgit, who founded her business in 2010, will be featured alongside leading female founders from across the country as part of Small Business Britain’s f:Entrepreneur #IAlso100 campaign, which celebrates the multi-achievements of women running businesses in the UK. The campaign celebrates 100 exceptional women across the UK who are driving innovation, growth, and positive impact in their communities, while running successful businesses. Birgit is being profiled for her achievements as a leading social entrepreneur committed to tackling food injustice one climate-friendly meal at a time, and providing volunteering, training and work experience opportunities to those marginalised from recognised, more mainstream, employment routes into the hospitality sector. On being featured in this year’s #IAlso100 lineup, Birgit said: “I am genuinely humbled, and delighted, to be named in this prestigious national list of female entrepreneurs. Looking at those who feature in the 2026 list, there are many female leaders who are incredible role models and whom I find equally inspiring.” “Being recognised through awards such as this f:Entrepreneur 100 is so much more than just a ‘nice badge’ – it helps give people, particularly women, a voice and an aspiration to achieve more. I’m privileged to have collaborated with, and supported, some wonderful people through ChangeKitchen CIC and our work as a professional, sustainable catering service and Kindness Café specialising in plant-based menus.” Launched in 2017 by Small Business Britain, the f:Entrepreneur campaign aims to raise greater awareness of the impact of incredible female business owners across the country, and help provide inspiration and role models to the wider small business community.  “It is brilliant to feature Birgit in this year’s #IAlso100 campaign. All of the female entrepreneurs in this year’s line-up are inspirational and remarkable role models,” said Michelle Ovens CBE, CEO and Founder of Small Business Britain. “Their creativity, leadership, and community impact show exactly why supporting female founders is so important, not only for the UK’s economic growth but for the positive difference they make to wider society.” The #IAlso100 campaign offers a host of events, training, and networking opportunities to boost skills, capability, and confidence.  Female entrepreneurship continues to make a powerful economic impact, with estimates suggesting up to £250 billion could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men.1 To view the full list of the 100 female business owners featured in this year’s f:Entrepreneur #IAlso100 campaign, visit https://f-entrepreneur.com/ialso-100-2026/. About ChangeKitchen CIC A pioneer of climate-friendly, socially-driven catering ChangeKitchen CIC is widely recognised as the Midlands’ only fully climate-friendly catering social enterprise, delivering high-end corporate, private and third-sector catering while creating deep, measurable social impact. Over the past fifteen years, ChangeKitchen CIC has become a quiet powerhouse in Birmingham’s social economy, using food as a bridge into opportunity, dignity and community. Their work includes: 95,000 free meals cooked and distributed since March 2020, with 200 to 400 meals still provided weekly. Nearly 10,000 bespoke emergency food parcels delivered to people in crisis. 20 to 50 supported work placements offered every year to people furthest from the labour market. Growth from 2.5 staff to 12, many of whom joined following supported placements. Employment of survivors of modern slavery through partnership with the Jericho Foundation’s Equiano Programme. 50 to 100 tonnes of surplus food saved from landfill annually. A fully climate-friendly kitchen powered by low-carbon energy, composting, recycling and zero-waste principles. changekitchen.co.uk

During International Homelessness Week, social enterprise Connection Crew brought together over 70 leaders from social enterprises, homelessness charities, event partners and impact-driven organisations to celebrate 20 years of delivering employment pathways for people affected by homelessness. Since 2005, Connection Crew has: Provided work to 499 people affected by homelessness Delivered almost 300,000 hours of living wage work for people affected by homelessness Built long-term partnerships across the events, charity and social enterprise sectors Demonstrated that commercial purchasing decisions - such as booking crew - can be powerful tools for social change Connection Crew released its 20 Year Impact Report at the event which featured three speakers: Lord John Bird, Founder of The Big Issue Praised employment-led interventions as essential to breaking cycles of disadvantage. “Connection Crew is one of those rare organisations that doesn’t just give people a handout but a hand up.” Camilla Marcus-Dew, Head of Ventures, Connection Crew Founder of Amplify Goods and previously founder of SoapCo and Beco, Camilla challenged the sector to seize the opportunity presented by the events industry’s huge procurement power. “The power is in procurement choices, staffing an event with people that live up the road, working with SMEs, putting money in the hands of diverse businesses, and yes - getting purchase orders for the greatest events of 2026 into the inboxes of social enterprises like ours.” Warren Rogers, Director, Connection Crew Reflected on the collective potential of the UK’s over 100,000 social enterprises. “One choice. One action. One shift in how we turn up. When those small changes multiply across a sector, they become transformation.” Guests included representatives from St Mungo’s, Beam, Social Enterprise UK, Big Issue, Design Council, Deborah Hale MBE and a network of events companies whose bookings have generated Connection Crew’s impact. Photography enclosed here: 20th Anniversary Press Images, impact data and interviews with the speakers are available on request. About Connection Crew Connection Crew is a social enterprise working to fight homelessness through employment and living wage work by providing skilled crew to the events sector. Its model creates paid jobs, training and next steps for people rebuilding their lives after homelessness. connectioncrew.co.uk

Charlie Wigglesworth, Managing Director of Telos, reflects on this year's Social Enterprise World Forum in Tapei, the UK's status as a leader in social procurement, and the lessons that can be learnt from dynamic initiatives in East Asia. I’ve been lucky enough to sit on the board of the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) for the past six years. Whilst a combination of Covid and being a new parent has limited my attendance to just two events in this time, the event in Taipei was a timely reminder of the incredible convening power of SEWF and the extent to which social enterprise is a truly global movement, with over 1000 participants from more than 65 countries. Discussions on social procurement have become increasingly prevalent at social enterprise events in the past 5-6 years. As someone who has been heavily involved in this space for the past ten years it’s been great to watch it grow in the consciousness of the social enterprise sector at large as something of interest and importance. I often felt leaving these conversations however that our work in the UK was well ahead of most of our international peers and that the topic was being talked about rather than done in practice. This is resolutely no longer the case. My big feeling upon leaving Taipei was that not only is social procurement now happening in all parts of the world (something we’d already identified in our State of Social Procurement report for World Economic Forum) but indeed the best practice, growth and ambition now rests elsewhere. To take our hosts in Taiwan as an example, there is a coordinated approach from government, the private sector and social enterprise to drive social procurement activity. Driven from government through the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration (SMESA) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, there is the Buying Power Procurement Award, which recognises buyers and suppliers through awards and public acknowledgment, encouraging collaboration and public-private partnerships. The impact is clear: cumulative procurement has reached NT$11.8 billion (c. £289m), with a record NT$4.1 billion (c. £100m) in 2025 alone. This growth curve is far faster than we’ve been able to achieve in the UK or Europe. Perhaps the most impressive single example came from SK Group, South Korea’s second largest conglomerate (behind Samsung Group). SK have a Double Bottom Line (DBL) management framework to create simultaneous growth through economic and social value, and see social enterprise engagement at the heart of this endeavour. Through their corporate foundation the Center for Social Value Enhancement Studies (CSES) they are investing in social enterprises, creating their own, and finding ways to integrate them back into their wider supply chain. What lessons can we learn in the UK and Europe? I think it’s clear that other markets are leapfrogging us in terms of the pace with which they’re developing social procurement. A critical factor in this is the ability to align ecosystem approaches around the central idea of buying from social enterprises. Rather than looking at this in isolation, places like Taiwan and South Korea are looking at the whole system, and how they can align government procurement (both policy and practice), investment, and private sector procurement to drive social enterprise growth. Whilst all these pieces exist in the UK, for example, they remain more disparate – there is much work to be done and much to learn. Charlie is Managing Director of Telos a social enterprise set up by Social Enterprise UK to help global corporations drive social, economic and environmental value through core business activity. He also sits on the board of the Social Enterprise World Forum.