The agency has teamed up with supermarket giant Asda to develop the UK’s first ever boot camp for social companies.

Funded by cash raised from the carrier bag levy, the inaugural supplier development academy took place over four days this summer at Asda HQ in Leeds, with 15 social entrepreneurs 12 of them from Scotland coming together for a series of masterclasses in mass retail marketing. Growth at that scale will allow for radical business development, and in turn increase social impact and reach.

Asda Social Enterprise Supplier Development Academy – company profiles

Brewgooder, Edinburgh

Turning craft beer into clean water by donating all of its profits to projects in the developing world.

Breadshare Community Bakery, Edinburgh

Proper organic bread, made with the local community at its heart and sold at a fair price.

Power a Life, Linlithgow

Every purchase of its ethical mobile phone accessories buys a solar light for a school child in Africa.

JTS Ltd, Paisley

Empowering smallholder farmers and producers in the developing world through ethical food production, marketing and distribution.

Vision 21, Cardiff

Providing quality training and support for people with learning needs through 17 individual social enterprise projects.

The benefits for Asda will come though offering more choice to its 19 million weekly customers, not to mention the PR appeal of being associated with the ethical enterprise scene. He believes it could be a game changer in how social enterprises retail to the public: “By promoting social enterprise products as viable alternatives to their commercial counterparts, we have a fantastic opportunity to significantly increase the revenues raised by the sector and, in turn, create much more sustainable and long term social impacts for our communities up and down the country.”

Social enterprise may be relatively well known in third sector circles, but awareness among the general public is limited.