CHRIS Thewlis is one of Scotland’s foremost social enterprise entrepreneurs, a go-to guy for others looking to follow the path he has helped forged for companies with a conscience.

His career, though, has been far from carefully choreographed.

“I ended up becoming a social entrepreneur by accident,” quips the Yorkshireman, who has lived in Scotland since moving from Huddersfield to study at Napier University in 2008.

Mr Thewlis runs a security firm, co-founded a bar group and has a stake in a spirits brand, gin to be precise. Each has been set up to enhance the life prospects of others.

The beginning of his involvement in social enterprise can be traced to his student days.

While studying for a degree in sport and exercise science with psychology, Mr Thewlis took up work as a door steward in the licensed trade. By the end of his studies he had risen to become an area security manager in for G1 Group, around the time the Glasgow-based company acquired The Three Sisters and Biddy Mulligans from Festival Inns in Edinburgh.

Having ruled out going back to university for further studies, he began to think of building a security company of his own. His business, though, would have a crucial difference.

“I kind of thought the security industry had a lot of potential, but a lot of people in the security industry don’t get paid well and there was a distinct lack of training,” Mr Thewlis reflected. “So I set up GTS Solutions, basically with a view to making some profit, and as a social enterprise to reinvest some of that profit to upskill people.”

He may have stumbled on his vocation by “accident”, but it is clear Mr Thewlis has a keen entrepreneurial streak. And he is channelling it to help those denied the opportunities many of us enjoy.

But it was not all plain sailing in the early days. Mr Thewlis, who runs a successful employability course for young people with the Princes Trust, set up GTS as a Community Interest Company limited by shares. That meant he was unable to secure seed funding from the banks because the “securities are tied into the constitution of the company”. Equally, since GTS was not registered as a social enterprise, grant funding from the awarding bodies was not forthcoming either.

“So I had to roll my sleeves up and figure out how to get on with this Community Interest Company,” he said. “As a result of that, I am probably the expert in the field on that in Scotland.”

How, then, did he plot a way forward for GTS, which today provides security services to nine local authorities around Scotland?

“There is no real solution – you just build a business,” said Mr Thewlis, noting there are now “specialised lenders in the field”, such as Resilient Scotland and Social Investment Scotland, to support social enterprises in Scotland. “The opportunities are there. It is a business where you can’t fund against the assets which are locked away, but you can fund against the quality of the business.”

As it turned out, his determination to treat the social enterprise in the same way he would run any other type of business has been crucial to its expansion.

From successfully applying his model to security, Mr Thewlis moved into the licensed trade, launching Scotland’s first ever social enterprise pubs with Harry’s Bar – traditionally a favourite haunt of city types – and the Southside Social in Edinburgh.

And he has plans to expand his Beer For Good chain beyond the capital, aiming to increase the portfolio to seven outlets in five Scottish cities in the next five years. Talks have been held which could even see Beer For Good pubs operate in continental Europe.

“The way that it works is that they are bars like any other bars,” Mr Thewlis said. “We have a core set of staff but then on the periphery they [staff] are again from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“The profit that comes out of what we make over the bar is retained for training, skills development and work experience for those young people.”

The most recent addition to the portfolio is Ginerosity, understood to be the world’s first social enterprise gin. Developed in partnership with Marcus Pickering and Matthew Gammell, founders of Pickering’s Gin, drinks industry veteran David Moore, and Dave Mullen, of marketing agency Story, the spirit will be officially launched in Edinburgh on Monday.

The gin, made exclusively with “ethically sourced botanicals”, has secured distribution deals in Scotland with JW Filshill and Hot Sauce Drinks.

Mr Thewlis revealed interest has been expressed from distributors from Japan and China, adding that the gin will be listed in supermarkets next year.

The product is likely to retail for £25 per bottle, and if it is bought directly from Ginerosity online then it is guaranteed that £6 will be directed to social enterprise objectives. “It’s going pretty well so far,” Mr Thewlis said, revealing that whisky, rum and vodka will be next on the agenda for the creators.

Asked why the concept of social enterprise appears to be flourishing in Scotland, he said: “Scotland is seen to be one of the world leaders in social enterprise. I think there is a mentality in Scotland of giving people a bit of a hand up.”