Rochdale Inclusive Economy Forum March 2025

For our March Rochdale Inclusive Economy Forum we have two wonderful guests joining us. 

David Baxter, CEO and Founder of Wigan and Leigh Community Charity will be coming along to talk to us about his journey. 

David has been working in the community for many years, having managed Platt Bridge Community Zone for 25 years.  In 2013, he founded Abram Ward Community Cooperative, to support a neighbourhood approach to reducing inequalities via the growth of social enterprises and community businesses.  This then expanded borough-wide to support more neighbourhoods in 2021.  He has created the Made in Wigan initiative, a local wealth building project funded via Power to Change that aims to reduce inequality through the growth of community businesses.

Wigan and Leigh Community Charity were successful in leading the campaign for Wigan Borough to become a recognised Social Enterprise UK Place in 2020.

More information can be found here - Powered By - Wigan & Leigh Community WLCC It's About The People And The Place

We will aslo be joined by Unlimited Potential who will be delivering a talk on their Economies for Healthier Lives Programme. More information can be found here: 

Economies for Healthier Lives | Unlimited Potential

So, if you work in Rochdale and you are a: 

social enterprise
co-operative – this could be a worker co-op or consumer co-op
Community Interest Company
registered charity with a social purpose
trading charity – this means that you raise funds through trading activities, for example renting  out rooms in your building or selling goods made by your beneficiaries etc. 
credit union
community benefits society
mutual
privately owned business who has or would like to develop social enterprise
An entrepreneur who is for profit but with social purpose 
An employee owned private business 
Looking to set up a social enterprise or any of the above
Or interested in knowing more about developing any of the above

Please come along. 

There will also be the opportunity to network with other social enterprsies too