Deal or No Deal - the videos

When Social Enterprise put together this year's Good Deals conference we were inundated with social businesses looking for investment.

Their leaders were all brave souls willing to put their pitch to us via video with some of them also pitching to a live panel of investors on the day.

We look at five of these pitches in detail in this month's cover feature and we want our readers to give their verdict about who they think will raise the investment.

If you haven't got a copy of the magazine, don't despair - you can subscribe today or watch the videos on our YouTube site. Once you make up your mind, simply email your verdict to gemma@societymedia.co.uk

WHAT'S MORE, our YouTube site has more than a dozen 60-second videos of social businesses telling the world about their enterprise and offering an investment opportunity.

These social businesses are:

MAJORITY WORLD CIC pitched by COLIN HASTINGS

www.majorityworld.com

A web-based photo library of the developing world (also known as the majority world) taken by photographers from the developing world. Majority World creates and opens global markets for their photographers selling their work at international prices therefore changing lives in the developing world.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£500,000 over 3 years in loans, grants and equity

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Financial: market value for seven-year loans, interest and capital holiday year one. Equity: 5 per cent per annum

Social: Benefit to 800 photographers and their local communities in the majority world. Provision of training and mentoring to this same community. Educational benefits to the UK, Europe and US communities as people accrue better understanding and appreciation of the peoples of the majority world through them telling their own stories.

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/9/DKJbRQCBbZk

CENTRE FOR DIGITAL INCLUSION pitched by IRIS LAPINSKI

www.cdiglobal.org

http://cdiukfeasibility.wordpress.com

The Centre for Digital Inclusion is looking to set up the 'Apps for Good Fund' in the UK. It seeks to launch a pilot programme focused on enabling people in low income communities to use, design and develop mobile applications for social change and community action. The 'Apps for Good' social venture fund will run alongside the programme to invest in the most promising and inspiring initiatives and applications.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£250,000 to invest into 10-15 start-up social enterprises

RETURNS OFFERED:

The Centre for Digital Inclusion is unsure of exact social and investment returns but as it is a technology leverage model it expects similar returns to that of the venture capital industry

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/11/SLRkbGe4vNU

PROJECTION AERO pitched by Gill Davis

gilldavis@me.com

AERO (Aspirations, Encouragement, Realism and Openness) represents a new era in social work by investing in social workers and educators of the future. By developing a programme that requires whole school participation, they train social work students and teaching assistants to recognise children's aspirations, pro-actively avoiding problems that lend themselves to pupil exclusion.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£100,000 in grants or sponsorship to help it expand marketing and contracts and become self-supporting

RETURNS OFFERED:

Social: At Wolgarston High School, Staffordshire, in last two years the number of exclusions have been reduced from 251 to six - the cost of the programme for the 800-pupil school was £30,000

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/12/ywYKqezksFE

OCTAGON EUROPE pitched by ANN FAZAKERLEY

www.octagoneu.com

Octagon proposes an innovative solution to a worldwide housing problem through flat pack, low cost housing for the developing world.

Its mission is to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers, refugees and internally displaced people with its flat pack housing that families can construct themselves in seven hours. It offers those in desperate need a durable and comfortable home rather than a makeshift shelter or tent.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£750,000 in loans, equity and grants to set up more demonstration projects in African/Asian markets

RETURNS OFFERED:

Social: Greater number of families with a decent roof over their heads, more children doing well at school because they are no longer living in a shack, and improved health through better living conditions

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/10/6AGilGT2A14

SHARED INTEREST pitched by SALLY REITH

www.shared-interest.com

Claims to be the world's only 100 per cent fair trade lending organisation. Shared Interest is a co-operative lending society that aims to reduce poverty through fair and just financial services. It works with fair trade businesses all over the world, both producers and buyers, providing credit to help them trade and develop. Unfortunately, demand for finance is greater than it can supply.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

Anything between £100 and £20,000 from businesses, schools, individuals, faith groups, communities and universities in withdrawable share capital

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Social: No financial but Shared Interest's social impact is its driving force. In its social accounts from 2008 it was estimated that Shared Interest helped 823,000 people around the world

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/8/Mj0xxslJgEg

SECRET SEED SOCIETY pitched by MENKA PAREKA

www.secretseedsociety.com

Secret Seed Society is building a media and lifestyle brand that engages young children and their communities in happy, healthy and green living. It has created a series of illustrated storybooks for 3-7 year olds. Each book stars a different vegetable, and comes with seeds, growing instructions and an easy recipe.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£200,000 in the form of share capital

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Financial: Aiming to be cashflow positive by year three, with operating profit margin of 50 per cent in year four.

Social: Engagement of 200,000 families to make healthy, local, seasonal food choices. Estimated to result in 200,000 tonne reduction in carbon emissions per annum

Watch film here

A WORKING ATTITUDE pitched by SHAZIA WAHAB

shazia@shaziawahab.co.uk

A Working Attitude provides an outlet where 13-19 year-olds can experience different occupations before deciding what they want to be, during their school holidays. By offering fun workshops and guest speakers tutorials it is designed to give a taster of what they need to do in order to fulfil their potential.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

Recruitment of trustees with a real passion for learning 'who want to give back'

£10,000-£20,000 in sponsorships and grants

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Social: Redefining the gap between school and work. Empowering and inspiring kids to think about other professions. Producing a legacy of entrepreneurs/role models in the future. Reducing high unemployment, school drop-outs and teen pregnancies

Watch film here

BUDDY SCHEME pitched by WARWICK OWEN

www.thebuddyscheme.co.uk

The Buddy Scheme enables health and social care students to learn from mental health service users. It helps students to develop a greater understanding of mental illness and related issues from a service user perspective. Through their workbook of topics it helps both the service user with their recovery and the students with their training.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£20,000 to produce two interactive DVDs of the scheme to be sold to universities and £100,000 to employ more service users to take part in the scheme. Investment in the form of grants, sponsorship and donations

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Social: Meaningful employment for service users. Improved student training and services as a direct result. Service users' care packages reduced through personal achievement and improved services

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/4/tHfHBPlTEd8

ECO ESCAPE pitched by LAURA GREENMAN

www.ecoescape.org

Eco travel guides for the UK and Ireland. Eco Escape are looking for investment to launch a new service offering eco living holidays which have a positive environmental impact and help people to more towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

Seed capital of £15,000 to launch and pilot this concept

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Financial: Interest of at least 15 per cent on investment in a time scale of 2-3 years

Social: Reducing the impact of travel on the environment, reducing carbon emissions, supporting small businesses and local supply chains in the UK, giving people opportunities to learn about sustainability, wildlife and self-sufficiency

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/3/fEJUcbCB_Ow

RED BUTTON DESIGN pitched by AMANDA JONES

www.thisisredbutton.co.uk

A for-profit social enterprise seeking to design, manufacture and supply products for the aid and humanitarian sector. An effective 3-in-1 solution to the problem of accessing and transporting clean, safe drinking water, their product is a water transport, sanitation and storage device for use by communities across the developing world. They need funding to manufacture 12 units from their prototype.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£100,000 equity finance, which will be matched against grants and a £30,000 pre-approved business loan. Red Button Design is flexible as to the exit and happy to discuss preferred options with any interested parties

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Financial: Red Button Design can offer an investor a four-fold return over five years, excluding dividends, based on this initial product.

Social: The World Bank estimates that each £1 spent in the water and sanitation sector saves £8 spent in supporting sectors such as healthcare and education

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/2/uRkDRd2FkO4

BIRTENSHAW pitched by DAVID REID

www.birtenshaw.org.uk

Dedicated to creating a brighter future for children with special needs. Birtenshaw supports children and young people with a significant disability or with a profound multiple learning disability and are seeking investment to update and increase capacity in their current 100-year-old school building that is no longer fit for purpose.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£2.8m in loans, donations and grants

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Financial: at interest rates

Social: Improved learning experience, greater sense of wellbeing and potential to develop

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/1/BhtIcYoSuaA

ROOTSTOCK pitched by STUART FIELD

www.rootstock.org.uk

Rootstock is a social investment society. Since 1991 Radical Routes, a social investment initiative set up by Rootstock, has been making loans to co-operatives working for positive social change. Rootstock is looking for investment in its initiative.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£50,000 in withdrawable shares

RETURNS EXPECTED:

Financial: Withdrawable shares and an interest rate of up to 3 per cent

Social: Supporting co-operatives working for social change within the community

http://www.youtube.com/socialenterpriselive#p/u/0/HdNhJpupAjM

GO! CO-OPERATIVE LTD, pitched by ALEX LAWRIE

www.go-now.coop

Investment for community transport initiatives.

'GO!' is a new co-operative social enterprise seeking investment for community transport initiatives including car pools, buses, light rail and rail to help restore services to destinations presently cut off from the mainline networks.

INVESTMENT REQUIRED:

£250,000 in the form of withdrawable share capital

RETURNS OFFERED:

Financial: 15% over seven years

Social: empowering employment, community development and a 2,000-tonne reduction in carbon emissions

Watch film here

Words by Kate Carpenter