Why funders should trust Black social entrepreneurs | Mark Simms appointed interim chair of Charity Commission
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This week’s headlines from the pioneers of social entrepreneurship, impact investing and mission-driven business around the world
28 MARCH 2025
WISE100 Women in Social Enterprise 2025: Award winners revealed
Find out who won the 2025 WISE100 awards, held in a ceremony in Glasgow – the first time that the awards will have been held outside London.
‘Funders, treat Black-led organisations fairly or accept responsibility for our erasure’
Opinion: Black-led social enterprises and charities are in crisis, and Bayo Adelaja is tired of watching it happen. The answer, she says, isn’t more mentorship or roundtables, but those with power taking action now.
What is gender-lens investing?
IMPACT 101: You've heard of gender-lens investing, but what does it actually entail? Is it only about women, and how does it overlap with impact investing? Sana Kapadia, a gender-smart investing specialist and chief catalyst at climate and gender fund Heading for Change, has the answers.
THE IMPACT WORLD THIS WEEK
Your quick guide to the most interesting news snippets about social enterprise, impact investment and mission-driven business around the world from the Pioneers Post team. This week:
Australia buys social,
Skoll announces 2025 award winners,
We learn what makes Coin Street so special,
And more…
THE EDITOR’S POST
Our annual WISE100 awards ceremony has been on tour this year. Instead of our usual London event, we were in Glasgow, Scotland, this week. It was a drizzly, grey day, but our fourth-floor venue in the RBS–NatWest office was filled with brightness and joy. Many of our WISE100 community members had got dressed up and managed to make the necessary work and family arrangements to take a day out of their usual lives to join us to find out who had won this year’s awards.
And the day was about much more than the awards ceremony. It was about connection, inspiration and positivity. The predominantly women guests had a rare opportunity to meet other social entrepreneurs and to celebrate their achievements.
Our keynote speaker, Susan Aktemel, a long-time social entrepreneur and founder of Homes for Good, Scotland’s first social enterprise lettings agency, summed up the importance of taking time out to connect with others. She said social entrepreneurs’ work could often feel overwhelming, especially in the current economic and political environment, so it was important to have “a real laser focus for each other and for ourselves”.
She added: “We need to think about self care…we need to think about our family and our friends and all the relationships and make sure that with all the things we're grappling with, we still have room for some fun and some joy. That's what's going to help keep us going and keep us being creative and pushing for better.”
Our award-winners were truly inspirational. Do take some time to read our report of the day. We hope their stories give you impetus to continue your own social enterprise journeys. Congratulations to them all!
STOP PRESS: We’ve just heard that Mark Simms, CEO of UK social enterprise P3 and 2020 SE100 Leadership Champion, has been appointed interim chair of the Charity Commission for England and Wales, which is the regulatory body for charities. Simms was awarded an OBE in 2024 for services to social enterprise. He will hold the post for six months while a permanent chair is recruited.
JULIE PYBUS
Editor
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Good Stories Episode 4 – Reconfiguring the landscape of the outdoor sports industry
PODCAST: Join Pioneers Post reporter David Lyons at Kendal Mountain Festival, where some outdoor wear brands, including Patagonia, are pushing forward circular economy solutions to halt the industry’s damaging effects on the environment.
OVERHEARD
“This room today is filled with top class talent, top class business acumen and deep compassion and commitment to changing lives. The world absolutely needs us... So the coffee makers, and the grant givers, the child carers, and the capacity builders, and the letting agents, and the bankers, and the journalists – let's keep going, because there's a lot to do.”
Susan Aktemel, founder, Homes for Good, in her keynote speech at the WISE100 Awards ceremony in Glasgow yesterday.
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