About the Event

Join Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network (ESEN) for a practical and interactive session exploring how private businesses can work with and buy goods and services from social enterprises.

This event puts the spotlight on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) from the perspective of private business, creating a space for businesses to share what they need, what they buy, and what makes a social enterprise a strong potential partner.

We'll hear from social enterprises and private organisations sharing real examples of how they have worked together.

The session will then move into Q&A, Incubator sessions, and a roundtable discussion, giving participants the opportunity to explore opportunities, troubleshoot challenges, and make meaningful connections across sectors.

The aim is simple: to help social enterprises better understand what private-sector businesses need, while helping businesses discover the goods, services and social value that social enterprises can offer.

Who Is This For?

This event is designed for both private-sector organisations and social enterprises.

For private businesses, this is an opportunity to:

Share your procurement needs and requirements
Explore new approaches to CSR and responsible purchasing
Discover goods and services offered by social enterprises
Meet potential suppliers and partners
Learn from other businesses already working with social enterprises

For social enterprises, this is an opportunity to:

Understand what private-sector buyers are looking for
Learn how businesses make purchasing decisions
Test and refine how you communicate your offer
Showcase your goods and services
Receive practical feedback from potential buyers
Develop new commercial, CSR and partnership opportunities

Why Connect Private Business & Social Enterprise?

There is a growing opportunity for businesses to create social impact through the way they spend their money. Buying goods and services from social enterprises can help businesses meet their commercial needs while contributing to positive social and environmental outcomes.

This event is built around three key ideas:

Understanding needs — helping social enterprises understand what private businesses actually need and what requirements suppliers must meet
Opening opportunities — identifying practical and sometimes unexpected ways that social enterprises can supply private-sector organisations
Building relationships — creating the connections and conversations that can lead to future procurement, CSR and partnership opportunities

The Incubator Sessions: Exploring Opportunities

At the heart of the event will be interactive Incubator sessions, creating a structured space for businesses and social enterprises to explore potential opportunities together.

We'll look at questions such as:

What goods and services do businesses currently buy?
What could they potentially buy from a social enterprise?
What are the key requirements a supplier needs to meet?
How can social enterprises communicate their offer more effectively?
What gets in the way of a successful relationship?
What would make it easier for businesses to engage with social enterprises?

The sessions will be practical, collaborative and focused on turning ideas into realistic opportunities.

Roundtable Discussion

We'll bring participants together for an open and facilitated roundtable discussion to share experiences, identify barriers and explore what could make private-sector and social-enterprise relationships work better.

This is an opportunity to debug buying opportunities, ask honest questions, share lessons learned and identify areas for future collaboration.

Agenda

Time	Session
2:00	Arrivals, Coffee & Pastries
2:15	Welcome & Introduction
2:25	Case Studies: Buying from Social Enterprise
2:40	Q&A
2:55	Incubator Sessions: Exploring Buying Opportunities
3:40	Roundtable Discussion & Next Steps
4:00	Close

About ESEN

Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network (ESEN) champions social enterprises to create lasting social, economic and environmental impact across Edinburgh.

ESEN brings together social enterprises, businesses, organisations and individuals to connect, learn, collaborate and create new opportunities for the sector.

Through events like this, ESEN creates spaces where social enterprises can build relationships with the wider business community and explore practical routes to sustainable growth and impact.

This is your opportunity to hear directly from private businesses, understand what they are looking for, showcase what your social enterprise can offer, and build connections that could lead to future opportunities.

Whether you're a business looking to explore collaboration with the sector or a social enterprise ready to work with the private sector, we look forward to welcoming you.

Contact the host of Debugging Corporate Social Responsibility with ESEN