Business for Good West Yorkshire programme established

West Yorkshire has a new programme supporting start up and growth of cooperatives and social enterprises – Business for Good West Yorkshire (BfGWY). The £500k, 18-month partnership-delivered programme delivered by Third Sector Leaders Kirklees (TSL), aims to create 25 new businesses, provide non-financial support to 90 businesses and see a total of 26 jobs created or safeguarded. It is the result of a successful bid to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) open call for pilot proposals to support ‘alternative business models’, and is part funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

The bid built on the work TSL, the local VCSE Infrastructure organisation, has done over the past few years in establishing a Social Enterprise Sounding Board following development of the Kirklees VCSE Investment Strategy (IS) – a shared strategy to strengthen the third sector in Kirklees. While the Council has directly supported the creation of Cooperative Care Colne Valley and the Dewsbury Arcade Group – who plan to take on management of the Dewsbury Arcade as the first community-run shopping centre in the country, TSL has delivered and promoted the Kirklees Social Enterprise Competition to profile social entrepreneurs in the borough.