A SOCIAL enterprise in Chirk has been named a finalist at a national awards.

Glyn Wylfa Ltd has been shortlisted in the UK Social Enterprise Award, recognising it as one of the leading social enterprises in the country.

It is in the running for the Transformative Community Business award.

Glyn Wylfa was established eight years ago as a café, community and tourist hub and business centre as a social enterprise for the benefit to the local community.

In the last year, Glyn Wylfa has increased sales income by 15 per cent and net profit/surplus by 30 per cent which was used for energy saving and customer benefit investments while also doubling their charitable and local donations. The café receives more than 43,000 visitors per year, employs 13 and is open seven days a week and the business centre houses a number of successful businesses, plus the local police station, that in total employ approximately 30 local people.

Brian Colley, director, said: "It is an honour for our directors, employees, customers and other stakeholders to be recognised as a shortlisted social enterprise for this prestigious award."

Social enterprises are businesses which trade for a social or environmental purpose. There are 100,000 social enterprises in the UK contributing £60bn to the UK economy, each one being set up to tackle some of the biggest challenges we face from homelessness to the climate emergency.

The UK Social Enterprise Awards run by Social Enterprise UK, the national membership body for social enterprises, recognise the nation’s most pioneering social enterprises.

Glyn Wylfa will be joining other shortlisted organisations at the prestigious awards ceremony held at London’s iconic Guildhall on December 8.

This year the awards featured two new categories one recognising a Social Enterprise Building Diversity, Inclusion, Equity & Justice and the other for the Social Enterprise Team of the Year – a category specifically acknowledging those teams which have demonstrated the strength, passion and resilience so characteristic of the social enterprise sector over an extremely challenging year.

Previous winners have included a company set up to tackle furniture poverty, an IT consultancy employing people with autism and a community energy co-operative – demonstrating just how diverse the social enterprise sector is.

Chief Executive of Social Enterprise UK, Peter Holbrook, said: "The UK Social Enterprise Awards are back, bigger and better than ever before. We have had a record number of applications this year, all of which have showcased the strength, dynamism and resilience of the social enterprise community through what’s been an incredibly difficult and uncertain period.

"Over the course of the pandemic social enterprises have been going above and beyond the call of duty to support their teams, the individuals, and communities they work with, showing the grit, determination and innovation so inherent to this sector. They’ve been operating directly on the frontline of the crisis, launching new products and pivoting their business models to meet the needs of communities and society as a whole.

"The awards are all about celebrating the achievements of the UK’s social enterprise movement, which is showing us that another way of doing business is possible – one which has never been more important as we look to build back better and address the climate emergency.”