Social Innovation Leaders Debate Future of Post-Brexit Social Marketplace

Key organisations within the social innovation sector have agreed to participate in the Good Deals Conference 2016 – the UK’s leading international conference on social enterprises, social investors and social innovation.

The Good Deal conference, taking place on November 14th-15th at the University of Birmingham, attracts established and new social enterprises, UK and international government ministers, investors and stellar keynote speakers. Supported by NatWest and the British Council, this year’s keynote speakers include Kenny Ewan, UK winner of the Chivas global social entrepreneurship competition, and Iqbal Wahaab, social entrepreneur and founder of Roast and Cinnamon Club restaurants.

The British Council, NatWest, Social Finance, Big Society Capital, Social Enterprise UK, Big Issue Invest, Ignite, and Impact Ventures UK are amongst the influential organisations that will lead insightful discussions surrounding the social investment industry at this year’s event. With both a regional and global focus on discussions surrounding social investment, industry leaders at Good Deals will also consider what the future holds for social enterprises and social investment post Brexit.

Tim West, founder and curator of Good Deals 2016, comments: “As the UK gets to grips with the reality of Brexit, social investors, social enterprises and charities are busy weighing up the opportunities and risks associated with this seismic shift in UK policy. At the same time, government social enterprise policy itself seems to have disappeared down a rabbit hole into the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. So where do we go next? Good Deals 2016 provides a unique platform for industry leaders to share their opinions and open up the debate on what these challenges will mean for the industry, including a vision for the future from the new boss of Big Society Capital, Cliff Prior. We’ll also be offering some great, nuts-and-bolts workshops on how to get investment and how to run a better social business – plus some super spicy controversy, in the form of restaurant entrepreneur Iqbal Wahaab, author of the provocative new book, Charity Sucks.”

This year’s event also sees the return of our popular ‘Good Deals Pitches’ where three social enterprises pitch real investment propositions to a panel of social investors – and our delegates vote for who should win.

Now in its ninth year, past keynote speakers include Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Barack Obama’s former Director of Social Innovation Jonathan Greenblatt, and global impact investing trailblazer Sir Ronald Cohen.