Presenting the importance of social investment at Parliament

It was fantastic to start the year, 2025 by being invited to Parliament to speak about my being a social business.

So when James Westhead from Better Society Capital emailed me I jumped at the chance. Each year James and his team organise a conference with social investors and MPs to share ideas of how best to support social enterprises like Chocolate Films. 

This year it was focused on making sure that MPs understand how a social enterprise works and how to connect investment with businesses set up to help society. 

When I brought Chocolate Films to life in 2002 with my partner Mark Currie, we wanted to make films, tell inspiring stories and create impact through video. We also wanted to give others opportunities to do the same as we found it so hard to break into the industry ourselves. 

This was the starting point to Chocolate Films,  a unique video agency with two goals to make great content and deliver meaningful social benefit.  

The thing about this type of organisation is that it doesn't fit the mould of a regular business. Usually a company is set up with one goal, to make profit  and share profits with shareholders. 

Running a social enterprise is different. At Chocolate Films we create content and get paid. This is ploughed into the business; it pays for our full time team, our overheads and if there is any money left, we use it to offer reduced rates to charities and other social enterprises. We also see over 3000 young people each year and offer ‘at cost’ workshops to community groups and schools so we can share our knowledge with the next generation.

Regular banks don't really understand why this is an investment opportunity. That's why Chocolate Films is the type of business that regular banks don't really understand. Luckily,  there are now more social investors involved in listening to social businesses like ours and understanding our value in the world. 

In my opinion, there is more value in being a business that has a social profit. Surely is it better to  be of benefit to society and not just a small group of financially savvy investors. This is what I explained to an audience of over 150 people in Parliament.

Do get in touch if you would like me to tell you more about my creative social enterprise, Chocolate Films. Maybe one day all companies should be social enterprises!