The potential for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games to catalyse social, environmental and economic benefits for the city - and the country as a whole - has been widely recognised. A theme that distinguished the London bid from others in July 2005 was the commitment to ambitious environmental and social principles, ensuring that the Games leave a meaningful long-term legacy for communities in London and the UK.

As businesses with social and environmental aims rooted in the local community, social enterprises can offer social outcomes hoped for by political actors and Olympic bodies. Social enterprises hold great potential to make the legacy ambition a reality.

About this project

Social Enterprise: Winning with 2012 is a national project funded by the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) and is comprised of a partnership between Social Enterprise London (SEL) and Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC).

There are two sides of this project:

- representing the voice of social enterprise from across the country to policy-makers and procurers. 
- providing up-to-date information, particularly about business opportunities, from policy-makers and procurers to social enterprises across the country.

Aim & Outcome

The project aims to optimise the involvement of social enterprises across England in the development, delivery and legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The over-riding project outcome will be to ensure that social enterprise is positioned as a realistic delivery model for the 2012 contracts.

Project strands

- 2012 Information Hub: This site will serve as a conduit for information between 2012 stakeholders and social enterprises, including information about procurement opportunities, the development timetable, Olympic information events, policy updates, and signposts to training, capacity building and other third sector initiatives. 

- Series of enterprise events around the UK: These events will offer organisations the opportunity to build business partnerships as well as providing a forum for sharing best practice case studies and emerging 2012 developments. The events will be vehicles for consultation with social enterprises across England. At least one event will take place in each English Region. 

- Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) Olympic Network: This network will provide an opportunity for BAME entrepreneurs to voice needs and priorities and exchange best practice. 

- Action research on quantifying added value and impact: Sophisticated action research will be conducted at two social enterprise test-sites and will provide meaningful data about the nature and scale of social enterprise impact at enterprises that have the capacity to deliver services. This impact data will then be used to build the business case for the sector participation in the supply chain. 

- Publication of policy updates, e-newsletters and a programme of policy meetings: Policy updates will be made available which will provide information on key issues relating to the Olympics. Additionally a series of meetings will be held with key policy makers in government and key agencies in influencing national policy and practice.

For more information , please visit http://www.sel.org.uk/2012/