Five ways Burnham can support social enterprise in his first 100 days  

If you’ve ever doubted the value of your business network, consider the following: one business was set up because clients kept asking for a particular kind of service. That network was SEUK’s Buy Social Corporate Challenge.  Connection Crew is a social enterprise that has been creating opportunities for people affected by homelessness for two decades, providing event crew work, paying staff at least the London Living Wage and giving them valuable industry experience. As an SEUK Recommended Supplier – a database of B2B social enterprises that trade with large corporate clients – Connection Crew has been a regular attendee of SEUK’s Social Procurement Meetups. These events are an opportunity to connect with corporate buyers signed up to the Buy Social Corporate Challenge and other social procurement programmes run by SEUK. “We joined the cohort and spoke to the corporates about the kind of services they needed. And what they really needed was event production and sort of exhibition stand solutions,” explains Margarita Ktoris, Connection Crew’s Communications Manager. “And even though that wasn't what Connection Crew was doing at the time, we had expertise in the business. So essentially, we expanded our portfolio to cover it. And that's how Stitch was born.” Since launching, Stitch has grown into a full-service event production company, delivering everything from large-scale exhibitions and global summits to panel events and breakfast seminars. The service is end to end, from design and build through to filming, streaming and social media assets. And crucially, social and environmental impact is built in from the outset, not bolted on afterwards. On the environmental side, Stitch takes a circular approach to production, investing in reusable modular stock so that the vast majority of materials on any given project are built for reuse. On a recent panel event series for one of their corporate clients, 94% of the production was circular, meaning almost nothing went to waste. On the social side, revenue from Stitch productions funds places on the Connection Crew Academy, a training programme for people affected by homelessness that builds event crew skills, confidence and employability. As Stitch grows, so does its capacity to create those opportunities. It has also helped break the glass ceiling for Connection Crew employees. Crew members could gain experience, build confidence and develop skills, but the pathway into next-level event production roles simply didn't exist. With Stitch, those opportunities now exist. The relationship with corporate clients fostered through the Buy Social Corporate Challenge has been central to Stitch’s growth. It has been added to the preferred supplier rosters of major corporates, generating repeat work and long-term partnerships that allow impact to build over time. Across one such partnership alone, Stitch has generated over 3000 hours of London Living Wage work for people affected by homelessness. Around a third of startups fail within the first few years, so how has Stitch stayed in business? Ktoris’s answer is straightforward: "I think the impact - both environmentally and socially - is really important to clients. But comes down to being able to deliver events well. And being nice probably helps too!" It's a characteristically down-to-earth summary of what Stitch has achieved. Connection Crew saw a gap in the market and had the ambition to fill it. Stitch is not just raising the bar for sustainable event production, it's raising the glass ceiling for the people who make those events happen. stitchlive.co.uk

Most award winners at the UK Social Enterprise Awards have years of history behind them. EcoCoach CIC had barely twelve months. Liudvina Pires, Head of Operations, tell us what it means to win national recognition when you're still finding your feet - and why the award matters far less than the children it's helped them reach. When EcoCoach CIC applied for a UK Social Enterprise Award last year, they genuinely did not expect to win. They were a small, locally-rooted organisation, still relatively new, still building. The application, says Liudvina Pires, Head of Operations, was never really about the trophy. "Our application was less about recognition to us as a business and more about giving our mission a bigger platform," she explains. "We wanted to test whether what we are building resonated beyond our local area: to help raise awareness around child-first, inclusive provision." They found out they'd won the following day, having been unable to attend the ceremony due to personal circumstances. "It was a mixture of shock, pride and disbelief, if I'm honest," Pires says. "To become a national award winner within the very first year, it does feel surreal." Supporting all kinds of kids EcoCoach works with schools across the East Midlands and beyond, delivering curriculum PE lessons, lunchtime and after-school sports clubs, and wraparound care in the form of breakfast and after-school provision. But it's the third strand of their work - alternative provision - that Pires describes as simultaneously the most challenging and the most rewarding. Alternative provision serves children who, for a range of reasons, cannot thrive in mainstream education. Some have special education needs or disabilities (SEND) or social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. Some are at risk of exclusion. Some are simply in the middle of a difficult transition - from primary to secondary school, or from a care home into a new environment. "We try to meet them where they are," says Pires. "We read their Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), their referral forms, what they enjoy, what their triggers might be, and we plan sessions around that." The approach is disarmingly practical. If a child loves football but struggles with maths, you don't sit them down with a worksheet. You score goals and count them. "We slowly build that connection through the activity they enjoy," she says. "And when we reflect on the progress within a term, it's clearly visible. Which is really, really rewarding." The children that EcoCoach works with range from two-and-a-half years old (following a recently signed nursery contract) all the way to teenagers in alternative provision settings. Across all of it, the guiding principle remains the same: no child should be left out because of their capabilities, and no session plan should be left unmodified if a child's circumstances require it. A business built on a gap EcoCoach was founded by Matthew Nelson, the company's director, who saw first-hand how many children were being failed by systems not designed around the way they actually learn, regulate, or engage. Through his own experience of school and child development, he became increasingly aware of the distance between what some children needed and what many institutions could reliably provide. The business started in April 2024, operating initially as a sole trader under the name Eco Coach PE Solutions. That early phase, says Pires, served a purpose: it allowed the team to test the model and refine the provisions before making the transition to a Community Interest Company structure, which happened in March 2025. The CIC designation was always the goal to formalise the social mission and create the right structure for long-term growth. From those early days of working with a handful of schools, EcoCoach has grown by around 75% in contract value, and expanded geographically across Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and beyond. Focusing on the mission whilst growing  That growth has brought its own challenges. Pires is candid about the tension between scaling an organisation and preserving what made it worth scaling in the first place. "It's so easy to shift from what you want to achieve into just securing more contracts and increasing values," she says. "In the early days, everything sat with a very small number of people - delivery, safeguarding, staffing, finances, operations. As we grew, we learned that scaling isn't just about taking on more work. It's about building the right team and systems around the mission to protect it." Recruitment, she says, is central to that. Working with children who have complex needs requires not just skills but emotional resilience, and getting that wrong can do more than disappoint, it can pull the organisation's attention away from the children it exists to serve. "It's not about getting bigger," she says. "It's about building the right team around the mission and protecting the integrity of the organisation as it scales." National recognition  In the months since winning the 'One to Watch' award at the UK Social Enterprise Awards, EcoCoach has noticed something shift. Conversations are happening in places they hadn't reached before, such as Somerset and Manchester, areas well beyond their East Midlands base. Pires is careful not to overstate the causal link. "We can never know for definite," she says. But she suspects visibility has played a role: when people know what you do and can point to external validation of its value, the mission travels further. The most meaningful signal, though, comes not from award judges but from care homes. When one care home refers EcoCoach to another - when a child who worked with them becomes, in effect, a recommendation - that, says Pires, is the real measure. "It does speak volumes for us. It does tell us that we make a difference." eco-coach.co.uk

Tarem Services Limited has expanded its national cleaning services across the CBRE and Zurich portfolio to 13 locations throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, further strengthening its position as a trusted national provider. The expansion reflects the continued confidence placed in Tarem Services by CBRE and Zurich and underlines the company's growing reputation for combining high-quality service delivery with meaningful social impact. Titus Komolafe, Managing Director of Tarem Services, said: "We are grateful for the continued trust placed in us by CBRE and Zurich. This expansion allows us to deliver high-quality services across more locations while creating employment opportunities and investing further in our communities. As a social enterprise, we remain committed to supporting our employees, tackling in-work poverty, and delivering meaningful value for our clients." Laura Bennett, CBRE Account Director, said: "Tarem Services has consistently delivered a high standard of service across the Zurich UK property portfolio. Their ability to combine innovative service delivery with a genuine commitment to social value has helped us achieve both our operational and wider social value objectives. Together with a highly competitive offering, this has made them a trusted partner and we are pleased to continue expanding our relationship with them.” As a result of this expansion and as part of its ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility, Tarem Services has offset 20 tonnes of CO₂ through the Verified Carbon Standard with Carbon Footprint Ltd. Tarem Services has also purchased 10 UK Trees through the UK Tree Planting Programme, helping to support tree planting in schools and communities while promoting climate education. A further 10 Kenya Trees have been purchased to support reforestation projects in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, creating employment opportunities and helping to restore degraded land. About Tarem Services Founded in 1999 with support from The King's Trust, Tarem Services Limited is a social enterprise cleaning company committed to tackling in-work poverty and food insecurity through responsible business practices and community-led initiatives. The company provides office and school cleaning, construction labour supply, pest control, and waste management services across the United Kingdom and Ireland while remaining committed to social responsibility and environmental sustainability. taremservices.com