Social enterprises, broadly defined as organisations that are changing the world for the better, are about to get a better deal from the Government through a series of initiatives developed by the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training.
Minister for Employment and Small Business, Di Farmer said supporting the growth of social enterprises and creating jobs was an important part of Queensland’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.
“Improving access to procurement opportunities has the potential to open so many doors for Queensland’s social enterprises,” Ms Farmer said.
“We know they deliver positive impacts in their communities while contributing to the economy and that’s why we want to support them in every way we can,” she said.
“We’ll do it by working with experts like social traders to build the capability of Government buyers for social procurement and by extending access to the Social Traders Portal.”
Ms Farmer said the online Portal would be available to all Queensland Government Agencies to ensure Government buyers had access to a database of genuine, quality social enterprises.
“Each year, the Government allocates more than $14 billion to goods and services and a further $5 billion to build and maintain infrastructure,” she said.
“We want to ensure our social enterprises score a larger slice of this investment.
“By doing that, we can help the sector grow, scale-up activities and create more training and employment opportunities, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged Queenslanders,” Ms Farmer said.
