At the tail end of a busy couple of weeks for us on the whole “SocEnt” front, we attended an event organised by Welsh Government for Ministers and officials from the governments of Ireland and the home nations.

We were, of course, more than happy to attend and talk about ourselves. More to the point, coffee and pastries were provided!

On a more serious note,  the different ministers and officials were interested in our business model and they certainly didn’t need convincing of the benefits of social enterprise. The range of organisations at this event, and also at the SBW awards the previous week, was wide and this made me consider what the term “Social Enterprise” means. 

There are of course many definitions and models, but for us it’s pretty clear. We have a socially beneficial aim; to increase access to bikes and cycling. To achieve that aim, we operate a diverse business delivering a range of bike related services both here at our workshop and also off-site.  As well as the community wide benefits of increased use of bikes such as better air quality and less CO2 in the atmosphere, cycling delivers many benefits to individuals, of which better physical and mental health are only two! 

We are of course proud to have been asked to represent Welsh social enterprise and hope that the sector continues to grow and develop.