In the cutthroat world of commercial business and market-driven services, a new breed of traders are emerging, concerned with more than just the bottom line. A growing number of businessmen and women in the UK are putting their skills and expertise to use, making ‘profit’ that improves the lives of those around them.

‘Social Entrepreneurs’ are the new players in the British economy, marrying up commercial skill with social conscience to creatively meet the needs of the excluded within the local community. They already have their own awards schemes and are studied by MBA students at Oxford University. Many of their initiatives, known as ‘social enterprises’ or ‘social businesses’, are having a regenerative effect on British communities, employing unskilled or previously unemployed workers to provide a local service. They serve as bridges between the commercial and voluntary sectors, combining the professionalism of one with the altruism and public benefit of the other.

Amongst this growing group of social entrepreneurs are many individuals of Christian faith, believers who are using their business acumen to bring the Kingdom of God to some of Britain’s most needy areas. “God desires to use business as a key means of bringing both spiritual and physical transformation to the world’s poor,” claims Stuart McGreevy, Chairman of the Transformational Business Network (TBN), an organisation created to support local business entrepreneurs in developing countries. According to Stuart, “businesses and endeavours are not merely tolerated by God, but created by him for good purposes, and as such should be used by his people to advance his Kingdom.”

Andrew Mawson is what community development professionals would refer to as a social entrepreneur. The URC Minister in Bromley-by-Bow, London, has transformed a small church with an ageing congregation into a multi-million pound community centre boasting a nursery, a café, a toy library and a health centre with 175 activities per week. In one of the most culturally diverse yet deprived areas of London, Andrew has used his entrepreneurial skills to set up the Bromley-by-Bow Centre, an initiative which now provides £2m of revenue back into the community along with over 100 jobs for local residents. “We gave away the church buildings to the community and let individuals go for it,” recalls Andrew, who went looking for potential entrepreneurs among the nearby flats and council houses. The people that he found have started a number of local businesses, using the project’s wide-ranging facilities which include a ‘studio space’ to develop woodwork, glass making, stone carving and textiles skills amongst other things. Andrew, who has already received an OBE for his entrepreneurial efforts, is building much more than just a business empire. “Give power to the people and they will create exciting business opportunities.”

Peter and Hannah Watherston have been involved in the business of spiritual and practical empowerment for some years.  In 1997 they set up First Fruit, a group of social enterprises and charities working in London’s East End. A former chartered accountant who has since become a church minister, Peter wanted to practically meet the needs of the young people who were coming through the doors of the Mayflower Family Centre where he worked. “Many of them were wasting their lives,“ he recalls. “We soon realised that something more significant than just a youth club was needed to help them turn their lives around.” Using his business expertise, Peter set up First Fruit and began to provide employment opportunities, skills training and residential accommodation for some of the socially excluded young men in the area. “I was told by one group of Christians that business and church don’t mix,” he says. “But I believe that Christian faith should embrace the who