Big Issue helps social enterprise firm acquire nursery in north west England to boost local jobs

Big Issue Invest (BII), the social investment arm of The Big Issue magazine, has loaned £75,000 to a Salford-based social enterprise, Social adVentures, to help it acquire a local day care nursery – Cheeky Monkeys – to help promote local jobs and pursue social objectives that meet the needs of local families.

Scott Darraugh, chief executive of Social adVentures said: “Without the involvement of Big Issue Investment we would not have been able to put this deal together. It is great for the local community, Social Adventures and the staff and children of Cheeky Monkeys.

“Social enterprise is a new way of doing business. We improve local services by re-investing any profits into the community. This acquisition is part of both our social and financial objectives. We are delighted to be working with Big Issue Invest.”

Ed Siegel, director of investments at BII said: ‘’We’re really excited to have this opportunity to invest in Social adVentures, an organisation we’ve been talking to about a variety of issues over the last few years. Social adVentures has been a leading voice amongst the first wave of public sector ‘spin outs’, promoting the collective cause and bringing themselves to our attention at a very early stage.“

Social adVentures is an award-winning social enterprise jointly owned by service users, staff and local people. Originally set up as The Angel Healthy Living Centre, it was hosted by NHS Salford for ten years. During the last three years it has grown and developed innovative services promoting health and wellbeing. The organisation works with some of the city’s most vulnerable groups. Services are diverse and range from healthy cooking classes to crisis management psychological sessions.

BII is a specialist provider of finance to social enterprises led by social entrepreneurs and staffed by social financiers. Since 2005, BII has invested £25m in more than 310 social enterprises, directly benefitting more than 1.8m people, sustainably employing 3,200 and training 14,000.

Additional funding for the purchase of the nursery included a £260,000 loan provided by NatWest.