In our rapidly changing world, we are increasingly aware of pressing global social and climate challenges, and the need for a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Growing social and legislative pressures are urging companies to firmly integrate sustainability into their business strategies and operations. The concept of social procurement - buying from social enterprises that put people and the planet first - has emerged as a powerful strategy for sustainability. It unites purpose and profit for a better tomorrow, allowing mainstream enterprises to source the goods and services they need, while adding impact, innovation and diversity into their supply chains.
A new transnational initiative - Buy Social Europe B2B - has now been officially launched, during the 2023 Social Enterprise World Forum week in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It will take the social procurement movement in Europe and globally to the next level in the years to come. With 23 partners from 17 countries so far, social procurement pioneers from across Europe and the world join forces. The initiative unites the longest-standing and most experienced experts in the field of social procurement globally together in one movement. The movement this way can build on decades of experience by its key partners, well-recognised and respected social enterprise international and national Buy Social networks and ecosystem actors. The set-up of the consortium and partners aim to offer a one stop shop for social procurement through a network of mainstream and social enterprise partners with an international, as well as local reach.
The momentous unification of partners and radical collaboration will help to substantially increase awareness, capacity building and match making opportunities for both sides of the supply and demand spectrum of social and mainstream enterprises. The impact: more successful trade partnerships between mainstream and social enterprises, more long-term opportunities to increase innovation through partnerships, and positive progress in the transition towards a new economy in the next few years.
Buy Social Europe B2B has so far received €0.5m funding from the European Union and the multinational software company SAP, long-time expert and business leader in the social procurement space. In addition, consortium partners each co-fund at least 10% of activities taking place. New co-funding partners are welcome and can contact: team@euclidnetwork.eu.
Learn more about the initiative and join the Buy Social European and global movement today as social enterprise, mainstream enterprise, funder, or (inter)national social enterprise network here
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Buy Social Europe B2B Consortium
The Buy Social Europe B2B consortium is led by Euclid Network - the European Social Enterprise Network, who has been convening the European Community of Practice on Social Procurement the past years, together with the Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) at the global level. Both organizations, as networks of networks, convene a community and network of over 100 organizations in over 60 countries at the local, national, European and global stage, advocating for change. SEWF is the longest-running convener on the topic of social procurement in the world. In addition, it is the patron of the People and Planet First verification. The new verification brand logo was unveiled on October 12th. This verification supports the identification of social enterprises for social and sustainable procurement.
Among the key partners are also Social Enterprise UK - the inventor of the Buy Social brand and owner of the Buy Social trademark since 2012. The Buy Social Europe B2B initiative works complementary to the Buy Social Europe Corporate Challenge initiative, led by Social Enterprise UK, in partnership with SEWF and Euclid Network. The latter initiative has, since its launch seven years ago, successfully redirected over €400 million in procurement spend to social enterprises. The initiative was recently transferred to a newly set-up social enterprise entity, Telos.
Other key international partners include: Yunus Social Business, Social Entrepreneurship Netzwerk Deutschland (SEND), Social Enterprise NL, Reach for Change, the Sustainable Procurement Pledge, SAP, and Zurich Insurance, along with 13 more partners acting on the national-country level: Belgium (Sociale InnovatieFabriek), Bulgaria (BCause Foundation), Croatia (Act Grupa), France (Mouvement Impact France), Greece (Academy of Entrepreneurship (AKEP), Hungary (Coalition of Hungarian Social Enterprises), Ireland (Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, SERI) Latvia (Social Entrepreneurship Association of Latvia, SEAL), Lithuania (Lithuanian Social Business Association, LISVA), Portugal (Associação Portuguesa para a Inovação Social - Eslider), Serbia (Smart Kolektiv), Slovenia (Fund2740), Switzerland (Social Enterprise Network Switzerland, SENS).
Learn more about the partners here
Quotes from Partners:
Аlexandra van der Ploeg, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, SAP: “The Buy Social and People and Planet First brands and social enterprise movements are building on strong foundations pioneered over the past 15+ years by Social Enterprise World Forum, Social Enterprise UK, and Euclid Network. When we invest in opportunities to work together across networks and sectors, we can learn from one another to scale global solutions. The current Buy Social Europe B2B initiative is unique in that it brings unprecedented large-scale cooperation. With $4.9 trillion in annual commerce transacted on the SAP Business Network, we have the experience to help scale this collaborative initiative and the opportunity to help unlock investment in people and planet in a way that is not possible through corporate philanthropy alone. The only way forward is together and we are proud to be partnering with a community committed to creating a more just, equitable, and sustainable world with the power of business.”
Wieteke Dupain, CEO of Euclid Network - the European Social Enterprise Network: "The Buy Social Europe B2B initiative, co-funded by the European Commission and SAP, is a key opportunity to consolidate the Buy Social and People and Planet First social and sustainable procurement movements across Europe and globally. It enables taking into account networks and learnings from national and local intermediary organizations that have been developed bottom-up for the past 15+ years. It enables further sharing of key learnings, expertise and knowledge. It supports faster identification and more effective development of best practices, case studies, capacity building and matchmaking programs and services. It decreases duplication and “not invented here syndrome”. It increases quality and access to an unprecedented extensive base of social (and sustainable) procurement mainstream and social enterprise actors. Hopefully, it will provide inspiration for other actors and stakeholders to join the Buy Social and People and Planet First social enterprise movements, and unite with us in action going forward”.
Jaime Paiva, Head of Procurement & Vendor Management, EMEA at Zurich Insurance Company, Co-Chair Supplier Diversity & Inclusion at The Sustainable Procurement Pledge: "Zurich Insurance Group is a proud supporter of the Buy Social Europe B2B initiative. Buy Social Europe and the People and Planet First verification, make available an effective one stop shop access to everything we need in order to successfully transition our procurement spend the next few years to benefit people and planet and reach our diversity and inclusion, net zero and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ambitions."
Mélissa de Roquebrune, Executive Director, The Sustainable Procurement Pledge: "The Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP) is an international grassroots and non-profit organization for procurement professionals, academic, and practitioners, driving awareness and knowledge on responsible sourcing practices and empowering people in procurement. With more than 14,000 committed ambassadors, SPP fosters the positive impact of procurement. We are for procurement, by procurement, interested to procure from social enterprises. Buy Social Europe B2B provides us with great partnerships and insights in the supplier community and mindset. Connecting buyers and suppliers, together with Euclid Network - the European Social Enterprise Network, shows us the opportunities, challenges and needs to match these stakeholders effectively. Working closely together will allow us to transition procurement spend increasingly to having a positive impact on people and the planet."
Buy Social Europe B2B Activities:
The funding received so far for the initiative and activities by its partners has already delivered valuable results that are important for the development of the social enterprise sector, increasing social procurement spend and presence of strong (inter)national and local Buy Social B2B markets, and there is more to come. Within the next year, Buy Social Europe B2B will aim to:
- Map with all partners the ecosystem and landscape of social enterprise suppliers and mainstream enterprise buyers across 17 markets, including to aggregate the data across partners into a European level database and produce a market insights report on findings;
- Generate greater visibility and understanding of social entrepreneurship and social procurement through campaigns, development and sharing of best practices and case studies of successful B2B trade partnerships;
- Assess the needs and building capacity of social and mainstream enterprises and intermediary organizations to increase trade-readiness across the sector;
- Enhance cooperation and value chain integration between social and mainstream enterprises through supplier identification, verification of social enterprises, further development and provision of matchmaking services, and organization of match-making events;
- Build a strong business case to convince more local, national and European policy makers, funders and investors to make long-term strategic investments in the field of social procurement, to increase support to Buy Social Europe B2B partners and key intermediary organizations developing the market, therewith accelerating the transition towards a more socially inclusive and sustainable economy.
Advancing Social Procurement in the EU
In 2021, the European Commission launched its 'once in a decade' EU public policy, the European Commission Social Economy Action Plan (SEAP). The plan aims to enhance social investment, support social economy actors and social enterprises to start-up, scale-up, innovate and create jobs. Over €2.5 billion will be invested in the sector over the course of the next few years. Further, the UN General Assembly historically adopted a new UN Resolution on the Social and Solidarity Economy earlier this year.
These momentous policy frameworks are the result of years of collaborative work by governmental and social enterprise and social economy sector ecosystem actors on how to effectively transition to a more socially inclusive and sustainable economy and society, and accelerate progress towards reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
In the transition towards this new economy, social procurement is perceived to be a crucial lever and key opportunity, if not the most important lever and opportunity of all. According to McKinsey, two-thirds of the average company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) footprint lies with suppliers. The overall value of the social procurement market was recently estimated to be a $500+ billion market opportunity for real impact, by BCG and Yunus Social Business. The European Social Enterprise Monitor highlights that “more corporations buying social can transform the European social enterprise sector”.
With social procurement providing a pivotal opportunity in the transition towards a new economy, momentum is in place to substantially boost funding and investment in the sector and create supportive policy frameworks and legislation to ensure social procurement is feasible and its presence will increase.
Along these lines, in 2022, the European Commission launched a call for proposals, for existing key actors in the market. Aim of the call: to boost the further development of European and local Business 2 Business (B2B) social procurement markets and increase trade partnerships between mainstream and social enterprises. “Buy Social Europe B2B” was one of the key awarded projects.
Learn more about the development of the Buy Social Movement here.