East Lothian Social Enterprise Network

29/01/2026

Booking is open now!

East Lothian Social Enterprise Network (ELSEN) is hosting a session with local and national support bodies to highlight exactly what support is out there for social enterprise in Scotland.

Led by Social Enterprise Scotland CEO Kim Wallace, the session will demystify the landscape AND give you the chance to network with fellow social impact organisations.
Book your free place now! https://vcel.tfaforms.net/99?eventid=a05P300000Ls4tl

If you have any questions please contact [email protected]

East Lothian Council
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh
Social Enterprise Scotland
Business Gateway East Lothian
Invest East Lothian
East Lothian Courier
ESES Communities
Federation of Small Businesses - FSB

11/12/2025

East Lothian Investments are currently taking Expressions of Interest in advance of their next decision board meeting.

Loans can be applied for up to £25,000 and are interest free with an arrangement fee of up to 7.5%. ELI is open to businesses at all stages and all sectors and types of businesses, including start up.

The next decision board meeting will be held in early March 2026. The deadline for submitting EOIs will be in January 2026.

For more information please contact: [email protected]

To express interest on behalf of your business in obtaining a loan from the fund, please complete the EOI form below and submit via email to [email protected] 

30/10/2025

Learn how to define success, and stay focused on your goals with Firstport User Experience and Impact Manager Carmen Paputa Dutu!

'Designing for Impact: A Workshop for Purpose Led Start Ups' is a perfect opportunity to learn about how understanding success can help deliver real impact.

When and Where: 13 November 2025 – Queen Margaret University

This session is free to attend, register using this link - https://brt.startium.co.uk/public/events/fbf4cb4a-357b-4e66-a76d-483670029f0c.

02/10/2025

Find out more about how small loans can support your enterprise!

Social Enterprise Scotland have partnered with Firstport to deliver Buy Social Scotland: Step Up Your Trading This Festive Season, a webinar outlining Firstport’s 'Step Up' programme, which offers 0% interest free loans from £5,000 to £30,000 to help social enterprises scale up proven income-generating activities.

This is a great opportunity to better understand how Step Up could support your organisation – especially if you’re exploring repayable finance for the first time. When you have confidence in your trading revenue, for instance during busy periods, you can feel more confident in considering repayable finance.

You can book your place at the link below:

We’re delighted to be partnering with Firstport to bring you this online webinar where you can find out more about how small loans can support your enterprise. What is Step Up? Firstport’s Step Up programme offers 0% interest free loans from £5,000 to £30,000 to help social enterprises scale u...

10/09/2025

Learning Opportunity! 🎓

Social Economy Today is a public lecture jointly hosted by the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health (Glasgow Caledonian University) and Social Enterprise Scotland.

This annual public lecture invites members of the Scotland’s
third sector to share their insight and perspective on current
opportunities, challenges and future prospects of Scotland’s
social economy. The lecture aims to provoke discussion on
these themes as part of GCU’s ambition to be Glasgow’s
leading civic university and initiate productive debate on
shared ambitions and how to achieve them.

You can attend in person or online.
In Person: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/social-economy-today-in-person-tickets
Online: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/social-economy-today-online-tickets

10/09/2025

02/09/2025

Thank you to everyone who came along to our Inaugural ELSEN Workshop last week! We were very grateful to be hosted by the lovely folks at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, and look forward to working together again in the future.