Economy

UK celebrates first Social Saturday

Published

10 years ago

September 13, 2014

Blue & Green Tomorrow

On Saturday, Britain welcomes the first day celebrating social enterprises that do business by focusing on ethics and good practice. Social Saturday invites consumers to support the UK’s 70,000 social enterprises.

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The day, organised by Social Enterprise UK, with the support of the government, aims to encourage people to buy from businesses that try to tackle the challenges we face today, such as poverty, unemployment or environmental issues.

People are encouraged to buy from social enterprises and spread the word, as well as show support on social network on the first Social Saturday ever held in the UK.

Vendors of The Big Issue, one of the country’s most famous social enterprises, have called on MPs to buy a copy of the magazine, to show support to homeless and vulnerable people.

John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, said, “We need our politicians to lead by example so that more people use their spending power for good. My message to MPs is to head out and buy a copy of The Big Issue on Social Saturday – a small purchase that can help change lives.”

Karen Lynch, CEO of bottled water company Belu, which donates profits to Water Aid, added, “I’m hoping for this first Social Saturday to build some strong foundations, great dialogue and some enormous learnings that mean that, in a few years’ time, we will have a hugely well-established event on the calendar, and a real reason for consumers to participate.”

A recent survey suggested that Britons have appetite for socially responsible businesses and would like to see more of these organisations.

Photo: Social Enterprise UK via Flickr