What is a Social Enterprise?

What is a Social Enterprise in NZ and Australia?

The Department of Internal Affairs (NZ) states a social enterprise must: Have a social, cultural, or environmental mission. Receive a substantial portion of its income from the trade of goods and/or services. Reinvest all or the majority of its profit or surplus to advance its social, cultural or environmental mission.

At 5050CafeFriends (fifty-fifty) our social mission is to reduce loneliness and isolation in the community.  How we’re doing this is by making our ‘Friends’ tier free, so that everyone can join. Once joined, people can find other people from their community, area, workplace or place of residence who share their interests or live close-by.

Once the group invite function is activated, people from your area, residential care facility or workplace can be viewed, selected then sent a group or one-on-one invite to meet up at your in-house/local cafe or the social space provided by your biz/org.

This means that anyone from your community can join, and then accept a (group) invite to a biz/org’s social event (usually a promotion or giveaway)  In this way, 5050 is not only helping biz/orgs network and market themselves to local customers but is also reducing loneliness and isolation by making individuals feel inclusive.

If people who have joined as ‘Friends’ would like to support a local biz/org they can by scanning a local biz/org Bestie Support qr and completing Steps 1-3.  When they do 50% of their subscription is then paid to the biz/org of their choosing or can be used as Spend. Eg. A sports club or RSA is a good place to use your Spend.

Our ultimate goal is to enable local biz/orgs to be places of social activity. So that when an invite to a local social event comes your way, (usually a promo/giveaway) you feel included and part of your community. In this way, we hope to reduce/eliminate social isolation and loneliness in our society.