The Proper Good scheme has recently been launched with an £8.25 million investment which will be supporting entrepreneurs who would like to grow socially minded businesses in Greater Manchester.
Proper Good has launched to help Manchester entrepreneurs who could help local communities and contribute to progressing the city region’s economy. The scheme is planned to run for five years- with Greater Manchester being one of six who are implementing it.
The investment plan intends to spread out the money across four boroughs- Oldham, Bolton, Wigan and Stockport.
A total of £8.25million has been invested into the scheme, with £2 million being forwarded to local delivery leads, who are experienced social entrepreneurs- these people have been tasked to develop socially responsible businesses in their relative boroughs.
A further £6.25million will be contributed by the Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisations (GMCVO), which will act as a social investment to help the businesses grow.
From new start-ups to existing organisations, Proper Good plan to support all kinds of businesses looking to scale up operations. However, the main cause for investment is to fund those who are looking to tackle inequalities and have a positive social impact in their local areas
Proper Good Programme Leader and Upturn Enterprise director, Anwar Ali OBE, has commented on the scheme, “We want to work with anyone who has a proper good idea or existing social business. Our region is full of hugely talented people who need no-nonsense advice and support - as well as investment - to take them to the next level.”
Anwar believes there is enormous potential for social enterprises to elevate Greater Manchester, they just need backing in order to do so.
“We’ve created the programme we wished we’d had when we first started out on our business journeys and will be using our experiences to encourage people to think about how their businesses can be ‘social enterprises’ – where they are committed to improving communities – as well as profit margins.”
With the positive news for the city region, Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham has expressed belief in the cause, stating that the programme sums up how we as a community can make Greater Manchester a better place to live for everyone involved through these small achievements, “You can’t look at economic progress in isolation - it has to go hand in hand with social progress, too.”
