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Social Enterprises making an impact in Cambridgeshire – Part 3

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Allia celebrates Social Enterprises in Cambridgeshire for #SocialSaturday

Cambridgeshire Social Enterprise County launched last November, and with over 300 enterprise now on the county’s register the sector is booming!

Next on our list of amazing Social Enterprises in Cambridgeshire is Burwell Print – find out what they get up to below:

What does your social enterprise sell?

Burwell Print provides

  • Digital printing from cheap and cheerful flyers to glossy reports, invitations, and up to A0 printing for architects’ plans etc.
  • Print finishing services including a range of binding and laminating
  • Graphic design for reports, wedding stationery, corporate branding/re-branding etc.
  • Website production
  • Business mail-outs.

How can members of the public/businesses buy it?

Why should people try to #buysocial? What impact do your customers make?

The impact our customers make is huge because through the wide range of customer jobs and services we are able to provide unique, meaningful and extremely valued work experience and training placements for adults with learning disabilities, known as our Printers. Without our customers we would not be able to operate as a Social Enterprise

Why did you start your social enterprise/what motivates you and/or your team?

30 years ago our social enterprise started to offer a small number (15) of daily work experience and training placements to adults with learning disabilities, now we have 49! Printing was chosen because printing equipment had been donated. Our teams of staff, Printers and volunteers are motivated through; facing and meeting challenges, the freedom to be innovative and creative, by being able to take informed risks, by the feeling of being valued, and, at the end of the day, supporting people to meet their full potential

What does ‘success’ look like for your social enterprise?

Excellent feedback from our Printers and their families and other supporting professionals in their lives. Excellent feedback from our customers. A very stable staff team that rises to the challenges and have a ‘Can do’ attitude.

What’s been the most difficult thing about running your social enterprise?

  • Printers’ Personal Budgets getting cut e.g. their transport costs and the uncertainty that this presents.
  • Increasing competition from other printing companies, especially the budget companies via the Internet.
  • Reduced print work due to the changing world of print e.g. organisations’ newsletters getting emailed rather than printed and posted.
  • Balancing the needs of our Printers and the amount of customers’ work, especially at quiet times, as we all like to be kept busy.

What’s been the most rewarding experience running your social enterprise?

  • Team work, enthusiasm, mutual respect and building partnerships
  • Presentation of Certificates of Achievement to our Printers at our Open Days
  • Playing a key role in the Social Training Enterprise Group (STEnG)

Have you got anything planned for Social Saturday?

We are open every Saturday morning, except Bank Holidays, and for #SocialSaturday we will offer refreshments and a £5 voucher towards a printing/print finishing job to anybody who comes in to look around.