Monday 21 September 2015

The British Council has successfully launched Business and Investment Readiness (BiR) programme on Sunday, 20 September at the British Council Library premises. The aim of the BiR is to strengthen social enterprises around the world by providing them with the support they need to enhance and scale the impact of their work. 6 Social Enterprise partner organisations - Team Engine Ltd, Tinder Capital, Betterstories Ltd , Radical Capital, Resonance and Bethnal Green Ventures from Bangladesh and the UK were introduced during the launch.

Matt Pusey, Deputy Director, British Council Bangladesh welcome the audience. A panel discussion entitled, How can Social Enterprises scale their impact” took place having Faisel Rahman, OBE, Managing Director of Fair Finance, Richard Catherall, Director of Radical Capital Limited , Dr. Ananya Raihan, Chief Executive Officer of D.Net and Tristan Ace, Global Partnerships and Development Manager of Social Enterprise, British Council in the panel.

BiR provides business readiness support to Social Enterprises at early stages in their development to allow them to strengthen their organizational capacity and put in place plans for future growth and increase impact. The programme also provides investment readiness support to Social Enterprises which are in need of finance in order to grow and enhance impact.

The support plan of BiR includes:

  • facilitating collaboration between Social Enterprise and Social Investment intermediary organisations in the UK and their counterparts in countries around the world so that the organisations can work together to support social enterprises in these countries, to   grow and scale their impact
  • collaborating  between the intermediary organisations to develop knowledge, skills, networks and business opportunities, which could mean supporting organisations can develop more robust business and financial plans, more comprehensive sales and marketing strategies, as well as developing strategies to secure social investment.
  • sharing information to develop and sustain a social enterprise infrastructure in the UK and globally.
  • fostering network between the social enterprises around the world to share experiences, knowledge and learn from the best practices.

The event was concluded with an interactive discussion and Q/A session with participants from the audience.  

Notes to Editor

For further information please contact Head of Marketing and Communications, Arshia Aziz, email: Arshia.Aziz@bd.britishcouncil.o

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.

We work in more than 100 countries and our 8,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes.

 All our work is in pursuit of our charitable purpose and supports prosperity and security for the UK and globally.  

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