The bottom line: MP Smith And Divine's Tranchell swap jobs

As the boss of Divine, Sophi Tranchell is well known as both a leading social entrepreneur and a provider of one of the UK's leading ethical treats - chocolate!

In her role as a Social Enterprise Ambassador, she swapped her day job for that of another of the sector's most important figures, third sector minister Angela Smith.

For one day last month, they were thrown in at the deep end of two very different working environments. Here, they tell Social Enterprise what they got up to, who they met and what they learned from the experience.

Sophi Tranchell:

I always wanted to be a politician, so shadowing Angela Smith, minister of the office of the third sector, was an exciting prospect. She was charming, and impressively calm in the face of a very diverse brief.

First a breakfast meeting at KPMG. The big businesses who attended recognise working with government brings credibility, and this in turn puts government in a powerful position to influence the way business is done.

Back at parliament I met the new DG of the Cabinet Office - a chance to present the Ambassador programme, its achievements and future ambitions.

Then lunch with BIS minister Ian Lucas. We talked Divine's status as a social enterprise given it's a company limited by shares and distributes a profit. He was keen to help BIS understand more about social enterprise, and I hope they will collate some data to show the sector's impact and growth.

At the end of the day I felt Angela and I had a lot in common: life long Labour and Co-operative supporters, and we both sold Traidcraft Cuban mints more then 20 years ago! We are both on the front line and motivated by the fact that we can and are making a difference.

Angela Smith:

This job swap was a fantastic opportunity to find out more about the day-to-day life of a social enterprise. It was fascinating to see first hand the business model behind Divine, and to meet with clients and partners to fully appreciate the fundamental importance of the social motive.

Talking to the chief executive about the early days of the company and the valuable support given by the government through the Department for International Development, the advantages of supporting social enterprise were clear. I also heard about some of the challenges facing social enterprises, particularly in terms of understanding from a range of professional organisations and financial institutions.

The Social Enterprise Mark and the government's support for social investment will help to support the development of social enterprises, but there's still much hard work to be done by government and the sector.

The Divine experience has increased my optimism for the sector. It is great to see the tremendous growth and success of Divine and other social enterprises over the last few years, and the growing interest in this way of doing business.

I am particularly interested about how there can be greater interaction between social enterprises and businesses, and am planning a round table at the Cabinet Office to support the development of this relationship.

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The Social Enterprise Ambassadors job swap campaign aimed to make connections between social enterprises and the private sector, give leaders from mainstream business an opportunity to experience life in a different kind of business environment and give social entrepreneurs the chance to learn from the biggest and most influential businesses in the UK.

An Ambassadors programme spokeswoman said: 'Through the swap, we hope to forge new relationships, encourage more companies to partner with and buy from social enterprise, encourage private sector companies to be more socially enterprising, and create opportunities for social enterprises to benefit from the knowledge and skills of the private sector.

'We felt a job swap with Angela would be a valuable activity as part of this campaign - in order for Angela to better understand the opportunities and challenges facing social enterprises working alongside and in competition with private sector companies, and to see how OTS can better support social enterprises in this space.'

Find out more about the Ambassadors and other job swaps at http://socialenterpriseambassadors.org.uk/