If you are running a business with a conscience, there is a gathering in Port Macquarie with your name on it. The Social Enterprise Council of NSW and ACT, known as SECNA, is bringing its Business for Good series to Port Macquarie for the first time on Friday, 10 July, with CEO Kylie Flament travelling up the coast to host the event at the Gathangga Wakulda Language and Cultural Centre in Wauchope.
Attendees are encouraged to grab a bite at one of the local cafes on the way in or bring something from home.
The gathering is aimed at anyone working to make the region a little better, whether they run a formal social enterprise or simply a business with a community focus. The format is deliberately low-key: attendees introduce themselves, share what they are working on, and flag any challenges they need help with. After that, the floor is open.
“When social enterprises find each other, magic happens,” said Ms Flament. “The social enterprise sector is so generous with its time and knowledge and resources and contact. If you are running a business for the express reason of making the world a better place, and I am too, of course I’m going to help you, and of course you’re going to help me.”
SECNA was founded in 2020 by social entrepreneurs, for social entrepreneurs, after two problems kept surfacing. Businesses doing good could not find each other, and government could not find them either.
“I had a contract manager in the New South Wales government say to me, we love social enterprises. We know that place-based solutions work. We know that social enterprises work. We even know you’re good value for money, but we can’t find you,” said Ms Flament.
For those unfamiliar with the term, Ms Flament offers a simple definition. “If a business and a charity had a baby, that’s a social enterprise,” she said. “The more formal definition is that a social enterprise is a business that puts people and planet first. They trade like any other business, but they exist specifically to make the world a better place.”
Part of what sets the sector apart, Ms Flament said, is a culture of honesty that runs deeper than good intentions. In a world where greenwashing and social washing are increasingly common, she said social enterprises were expected to show their work, including the messy parts.
“You need to bring your whole self, warts and all,” said Ms Flament. “Let’s talk about the hard stuff. Let’s talk about the fact that you want to run a cafe that really does good in the world, but you can’t seem to get away from takeaway cups. There is no such thing as perfect. We’re all trying to make the world better, but there’s trade-offs.”
The Port Macquarie event will be the latest in a series SECNA now runs across more than 26 locations in New South Wales. Ms Flament said she was never sure what to expect when she arrived somewhere new. In Armidale, a contact at the University of New England expected two social enterprises in the room. Twenty-two people turned up.
“Almost all of them stood up and said, I don’t know if I’m a social enterprise, but this is what I do,” said Ms Flament. “And we went, yes, that is a social enterprise.”
She said the real value of the gatherings was what she called collective wisdom: the spontaneous problem-solving that happened when people who were used to finding creative solutions sat in a room together. She recalled one event where a business teaching women to use tools needed an architect for a shipping container project, and someone immediately knew one. At another, a disability-employment cafe looking for a commercial kitchen connected with a corporate whose staff canteen had been vacant for three years.
“You couldn’t advertise for that,” said Ms Flament. “It is that how can we all help each other.”
That kind of connection is something Ms Flament said regional businesses often struggled to access on their own. Being outside a major city could mean facing unusual challenges with no obvious person to call.
“It’s just having that support, it’s having the network that you can call someone to say, hey, I’ve got this really weird thing, issue, challenge, idea, I don’t know, what do you reckon or who should I talk to,” said Ms Flament. “And having this network of people that you can tap into through SECNA – we’ve got this huge law firm that offers pro bono support in that exact area, or these people over here have been working on something similar, you should have a chat.”
For those who cannot make the daytime session, SECNA is also running a Business for Good Fireside Yarn that same evening from 5pm at Deadly Science, hosted with the Deadly Science team. Grazing plates and refreshments will be provided.
Later in August, SECNA will hold events in the Northern Rivers, with a breakfast in Lismore on 20 August and a lunch in Ballina that same day. A Byron Bay after-work event is also being planned. Details will be announced on the SECNA website closer to the time.
Tickets to the Port Macquarie Business for Good gathering are $10 and can be booked at https://events.humanitix.com/port-macquarie-business-for-good-lunch. The Fireside Yarn can be booked at https://events.humanitix.com/port-macquarie-business-for-fireside-chat
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