The Impact Initiative

The Impact Initiative is a social enterprise sector development programme initiated by the Department of Internal Affairs and delivered in partnership with Ākina. 

The three year programme began in April 2018 and is being supported by the Community Enterprise Network (NZ) Trust (CENT) who represent three sector-led community enterprise networks; Community Energy Network, Environment Hubs Aotearoa and the Zero Waste Network.

Phew! We're almost there, stick with me....

Matthew is representing CENT in being seconded to Ākina to work on The Impact Initiative. His role is to lead the sector engagement work stream of the programme, and to facilitate a sector steering group which includes senior practitioners from the networks represented by CENT.

As part of this work, Matthew has been facilitating a series of 'Kitchen Table Talks' around the country, gathering insights on the challenges, scope and opportunity of social enterprise. 

Recognising that there is a long history of social entrepreneurship in Aotearoa New Zealand, we commissioned Billy Matheson to look at the past 30ys, and provide a commentary on the current state of things. Click here to read, “Part of a Larger Whole: 30 Years of Social Enterprise Development in Aotearoa New Zealand”.