Social enterprise: Stop focusing on definitions and just do it!

Following the #futureofsocent hashtag on Twitter tonight, there's all the usual talk of definitions and how social enterprise needs to go mainstream. While those subjects generate debate, they also slow the sector down. Too much is focused on talking whereas what we need to do is act!

In my day job I run The Pitch, a pitching competition for small businesses. Today I discussed some of the entries with our judges and one of them has potentially huge benefits for the NHS. I can't go into detail as we've not yet revealed the shortlist publicly but the company in question isn't a social enterprise; it's a business. A business out to make the world a better place. That's what matters.

So while all the chat about 'what is social enterprise?' and 'when will social enterprise go mainstream?' generate pages and pages of copy for us bloggers, we need to move on and (excuse my French) just bloody do it!

A child reads for the first time: Goose bump moment from an African project [VIDEO]

Can you remember your parents' reaction when you first learnt to read? I'm sure they were delighted.

But I'm sure they weren't as delighted as the residents of one African village when a small boy read by himself for the first time.

The video of that moment, shown below, was played at last week's Skoll World Forum and when I saw it, I got goose bumps.

The young chap was a recipient of support from the Community Empowerment Program, an initiative of not-for-profit Senegal-based organisation Tostan. The scheme encourages parents and other community members to create an environment for children’s development in a country where research has shown that certain social norms and traditional practices can hinder the brain development of infants.

Teaching a child to read is a simple but hugely powerful achievement. It opens up a world of possibilities and the community's delight in the video below illustrates that.

Wonderful stuff.

Skoll World Forum 2013: Live video and blog

In association with BusinessZone.co.uk (yes, I also run that site!), here's a live video stream and blog from the Skoll World Forum in Oxford which runs until Friday (12 April).

The schedule is:

April 11
14:00 - 15:00: From per capita to pro capita: Launch of the Social Progress Imperative
17:30 - 19:00: Awards ceremony

April 12
09:00 - 10:45: BBC Global Business: Financing social entrepreneurship
12:30 - 14:15: Developing the development model: Re-engineering aid for the 21st century
15:00 - 16:30: Closing plenary

Budget 2013: Twitter reaction to tax relief for social enterprises

Social Value Act comes into force: The Twitter reaction

That Social Enterprise Mark 'genuine' tweet: The Mark's Anne Mountjoy responds

Last week, I blogged about a tweet from the Social Enterprise Mark which seemed to suggest that getting the accreditation is the only way to prove a social enterprise is genuine. Anne Mountjoy, who runs the Social Enterprise Mark Twitter account, responds in this exclusive guest post.

So, about the Social Enterprise Mark tweet that was interpreted as alienating social entrepreneur,  that was not my intention. Let me explain…

I’m Anne Mountjoy and I work as Marketing and Comms Manager for the Social Enterprise Mark. I’ve worked in the social enterprise sector since 2004 and before that I worked for an environmental charity. I’ve also been a director of a community recycling enterprise. I’m a member of Co-operative SW and buy co-op products and services whenever possible.  I’ve got many friends working in social enterprise – having the Mark is not a consideration of that. I don’t discriminate or exclude anyone. 

I’m passionate about my job and I believe we are working to make a positive difference to society. Everyone I work with feels this way. 

The Mark Company is a social enterprise itself; working towards achieving the Mark.  Our social aim is to increase recognition and the size of the sector. Profits are reinvested into the business, to help us run more campaigns, like 50in250 (which has directly positively impacted on the sales of social enterprises).  We’re planning more campaigns to help social enterprises become more widely understood, recognised and bought from.

I believe there’s a way where fair trade can be replicated to help people choose to buy from social enterprises. So how are the mechanics of such a device developed? The Mark worked with the sector to agree and develop criteria that social enterprises could be benchmarked against. That’s where the Mark came from and it is constantly in development. I understand that not everyone will agree on the criteria, but the tide for social enterprise is turning and we’re travelling in the right direction. Who knows how the sector will evolve – and the Mark in response to it?

If people understand social enterprise because of the Mark, that’s got to be a good thing. The Mark is not about excluding social enterprises – the criteria are as inclusive as they can be when a benchmark is set.  And the Mark encourages new entrants by accepting new starts.  The reason the Mark is important is because private business is starting to see social enterprise as a business opportunity – I quoted A4E as the example in my tweet. In addition, social enterprise as ‘bid candy’ is a relatively new but becoming a common term. Personally, I think the private sector will always exist – and it has a part to play, but social enterprises deserve to be recognised for the extra they deliver. 

I understand that there are many different ways social entrepreneurs work – some in social enterprises and some not. We’re giving social enterprises a tool to differentiate themselves from less scrupulous businesses hijacking the social enterprise agenda. The more social enterprises stand together – the bigger the impact will be. Let’s think positively about how much the sector can gain by standing on the same side – even if we don’t all agree.

How to alienate social entrepreneurs with one tweet: A lesson from the Social Enterprise Mark

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I’ve just spotted what I think is a pretty outrageous tweet from the Social Enterprise Mark:

Who on earth decided that such a statement was a good idea? In one fell swoop, the Mark has alienated a large section of the UK’s social enterprise community.

Suggesting that paying for an endorsement is the only way for an entrepreneur to be considered genuine is ridiculous. Yes, the Mark works for many but several social enterprise owners have complained that they don’t fit the organisation’s criteria.

I’ve previously made my thoughts clear about the Mark and I’m yet to be convinced otherwise. There are thousands of social enterprises out there who are not endorsed but are definitely genuine social businesses.

Is the Mark really suggesting that all those thousands of businesses are not genuine and misleading their customers and supporters?

UPDATE (20/07/12):

Anne Montjoy who runs the Social Enterprise Mark Twitter account has got in touch with me. She said her intention with the tweet was to not alienate social entrepreneurs but was actually trying to say that the Mark prevents companies like A4e describing themselves as a social enterprise. I have invited Anne to write a guest post which I will publish on this blog.

@socialbusiness I meant its the only cert. for #socent. @se_mark comment inferring 'not genuine' pointed at likes of a4e
— Anne Mountjoy (@AnneMountjoy) July 19, 2012

A window into the world of the social entrepreneur [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Some interesting finding have resulted from the recent UnLtd survey of 1,000 of its social enterprise award winners. Check out the infographic below.

Social entrepreneur to feature on The Apprentice: Good or bad for social enterprise?

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Love them or hate them it's hard to deny that reality TV shows such as Dragons' Den and The Apprentice have generated a renewed interest in business. That's certainly true in my day job where as editor of BusinessZone.co.uk any content I publish focusing on the shows usually leads to a spike in traffic.

What there is very little of in these TV programmes however is anything focusing on social enterprise. You may well have seen the clip in a recent episode of Dragons' Den when an entrepreneur pitching a social enterprise cookery school was met with confusion from Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and co who struggled to work how they could get a return from any investment in such a business model.

With that in mind I was interested to spot that among the contestants for the new series of The Apprentice, which were revealed today, is a successful social entrepreneur.

The woman in question is Melody Hossaini, founder of youth training organisation InspirEngage International. Melody set up her social enterprise, which aims to improve the lives of young people through skills development training, aged just 13 and looking at her LinkedIn profile she has an impressive CV having worked for groups including the Youth Parliament and with high profile individuals including Al Gore Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama.

Having been a viewer of The Apprentice since it started in the UK, Melody is not your usual candidate!

So why is she doing it?

The profile boost which comes from the show can't be ignored and although the entrepreneur already has an impressive CV, she is likely to get a lot more attention from appearing in the show. There's also a change in the format this year as rather than receiving a job with Lord Sugar the winner will be rewarded with up to £250,000 to invest in a joint business venture with the peer. That could be the reason why more entrepreneurs than usual feature in this year's line-up.

But what does it mean for social enterprise specifically?

I think it's a positive step that a social entrepreneur will feature in the show. The social enterprise sector has done lots over recent years to promote itself among the general public but there is a still a long way to go until most people really understand what social entrepreneurs are all about. Melody Hossaini's appearance in The Apprentice could help do that.

Also the fact that the programme results in the winner running a business rather than a job selling one of the Lord's wacky products could result in someone as high profile as the Amstrad founder getting involved in social enterprise.

That of course is looking on the bright side. It's highly possible that Melody's social enterprise background will get lost among the bickering and back stabbing which the BBC often prefers to focus on. We must remember that The Apprentice is entertainment afterall.

However let's not be too cynical at this very early stage. Let's hope that a social entrepreneur's starring role in a prime time BBC TV broadcast watched by millions will teach at least a few more thousand people about just how beneficial the social enterprise sector is.

Social Enterprise Ambassadors programme comes to an end: What did it achieve?

Here's an article I wrote earlier this week for my day job as editor of BusinessZone.co.uk:

The three-year government-funded Social Enterprise Ambassadors programme, set up to promote social enterprise with high profile entrepreneurs, came to an end last week. BusinessZone.co.uk editor Dan Martin spoke to the programme's manager Pauline Milligan to find out what it did for social enterprise in England.

If the recession has done one thing, it has increased the interest in doing business for social or environmental reasons rather than solely to make pots of cash. Although social enterprises, the modern, collective term for businesses which put all or the majority of their profits into a social cause, are nothing new, high profile companies like Jamie Oliver's Fifteen and Divine Chocolate and Cafe Direct, two of the UK's biggest Fairtrade companies, have helped drive up interest among the general public and aspiring entrepreneurs.

One way the last government attempted to boost that interest was through its funding of the Social Enterprise Ambassadors programme, an initiative which bought on board 33 social entrepreneurs who toured England trumpeting the benefits of the social enterprise model. Among those who got involved were Tim Campbell, winner of the first series of The Apprentice and John Bird, co-founder of The Big Issue.

The programme, which cost a total of £860,000 and was run by the Social Enterprise Coalition, came to an end last week with a celebration event filled with tears and hugging. But why has it ended, what has it achieved and what's ahead for how social enterprise is promoted in the UK?

The end

Programme manager Pauline Milligan says the programme was always only going to last three years and participants decided not to push the new government into extending the initiative. "We felt it was going to be a risk to watch and see whether the government would continue funding and thought it was better to celebrate the achievements of the programme and the legacy which will continue in many ways."

Achievements

When asked what Milligan considers are the scheme's greatest achievements, a deal with telecoms company O2 is top of the list. "The company has launched new packages and a whole host of other activities to support social enterprise whether that be communications work, promoting social enterprise to business customers or looking at introducing a new award for social enterprise," she says. "O2 is promoting and supporting the social enterprise sector in a way that hasn't been possible before using the power of a huge, powerhouse brand."

Milligan is also proud of the programme's work in public services, particularly with the National Offender Management Service through which ambassadors were matched with senior civil servants at a 'speed dating' event who then spent time within social enterprises learning how former offenders can be helped back into work. "The social enterprise concept can be quite hard to grasp but it is brought to life through individual stories," Milligan explains. "It has been hugely effective in helping civil servants to 'get it'. As a result, there are lots of pilot schemes working with offenders around the country."

Responding to criticism

The programme hasn't been without its critics however. In 2008, some of the ambassadors attacked the programme for lacking direction and earlier this year, social entrepreneur Ben Metz wrote an article for The Guardian in which he said the programme "makes a lot of noise and wastes a lot of taxpayers' money in looking good and talking about themselves while effecting no legislative or policy change whatsoever".

Milligan accepts some of the criticism and said when she joined in early 2009, it was one of the first areas she focused on. Three taskforces, she claimed, tackled the direction problems and bought "real change".

When it comes to altering government policy, Milligan claims the programme wasn't set up with the aim of "changing laws" but says it has "influenced the debate and helped civil servants and ministers understand what social enterprise is all about".

She also claims one major success with the programme’s role in calling for added value to be taken into account when public sector spending decisions are made and contracts are being awarded. Chris White MP is currently tabling a private members bill calling for a greater awareness of social enterprises during the procurement process. "This was not solely down to the ambassadors but we had lots of meetings with key civil servants, ministers and the media in order to influence the outcome", Milligan says.

Enterprise education

Educating young people about business is another area Milligan is keen to stress the programme's success, in particularly through the recent introduction of social enterprise as an area of education taught by Young Enterprise, which works with 30,000 children and students in schools, colleges and universities.

Young Enterprise hit the headlines recently when Dragons' Den judge and National Enterprise Academy founder Peter Jones criticised the organisation for "putting good money after bad". Milligan says that is an argument by which she is "not impressed" adding: "I've met many of the young people who've taken part in Young Enterprise and they're very inspiring. They've set up profitable businesses and are doing some fantastic stuff so it's really dismissive of Peter Jones to disregard the organisation in the way he did."

One of the dragon's arguments is that enterprise education needs to be more coordinated and he has called for his National Enterprise Academy curriculum, currently running in three colleges, to be rolled out nationwide.

But Milligan says having one single scheme in place isn't necessarily a good thing. "There are lots of organisations working in the space and it's important they join up but I also believe there are different ways to do things," she says. "I wouldn't want to see a monopoly of one programme being used against others which have got a proven track record."

Public perception

So how does Milligan believe the public perception of social enterprise has developed during the three years the programme has existed?

"Things are shifting but there's still a long way to go," she says. "When I joined in 2009, we started to look at how to make it more focused and one of the things I quickly realised was that going out and trying to raise awareness among the general public was not the right thing to do.

"What we needed to do was get to key decision makers and organisations. Once we'd converted some of those, we could then move onto the general public. Through schemes like the Social Enterprise Mark and the deal with O2, the concept of social enterprise is starting to be taken out to a bigger audience."

The future

In terms of how the legacy of the programme will continue, Milligan says many initiatives "will continue" although without the coordinated format of a national programme. The Social Enterprise Coalition also plans to stay in touch with the ambassadors and all have committed to open the doors of their social enterprises to the public on Social Enterprise Day 2010 in November during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

But it's not just the programme that has come to an end; so has Pauline Milligan's job. When asked what she plans to do in the future, she reveals initially she is taking a break and spending two weeks in Vietnam "to have a rest and reflect". But whatever happens, social enterprise will likely stay a part of Milligan's life.

"I'm keen to stay within social change and business. I don't know whether that'll be starting my own, going freelance, working for a social enterprise or another business. I'm keeping an open mind but I certainly believe business is the way to do it."

Exclusive video: Barchester boss backs Big Society

Last week I interviewed Mike Parsons, the founder of elderly care homes business Barchester Healthcare, for my day job as editor of BusinessZone.co.uk. He has been hugely successful having grown the business into a £400m turnover operation with assets of £1bn. I asked him about the government's Big Society vision and he is a big fan. The video has not yet been published on BusinessZone.co.uk but I thought I'd give Social Enterprise Focus readers a sneak preview. Parsons also talks about why business owners should get involved with charitable causes, his work with Sir Richard Branson in Africa and his view on social enterprise. Enjoy!

Live blog from the launch of the SE100 Index

The RBS SE100 Index is a new tool that charts the growth and impact of any organisations that deliver social, economic or environmental change including charities, housing associations, co-ops, social firms, community enterprises and ethical businesses. The Index launches in London tonight and I'll be there. As is usual, I'll be providing a live blog below.

Live blog from OxfordJam

Labour election manifesto: Commitments to social enterprise

Included in Labour's general election manifesto, which was launched today, is a small section on social enterprise. These are the party's commitments:

• The Social Investment Bank will make additional capital available to social enterprises with an initial endowment of £75 million funded by dormant accounts alongside existing funding streams.
• Promote the creation of more social enterprise hubs in every community – helping more to get off the ground.
• Extend the right of public-sector workers to request that they deliver frontline services through a social enterprise. Public-sector workers in the NHS currently enjoy this right.
• More local organisations run on cooperative principles with an expansion of Community Interest Companies and third sector mutual organisations that reinvest profits for the public good. 
• British Waterways will be turned into a mutually owned co-operative
• Promote the use of community shares that support investment in football clubs, pubs, renewable energy and shops.
• A National Youth Community Service, with the goal that all young people contribute at least 50 hours to their communities by the age of 19

It's good to see the sector now has a place in election manifestos and the commitment is welcome. However, I would also have liked to have seen something which addresses how CICs are structured with efforts put in place to make them more attractive to investors.

What do you think of the plans?

Twestival: A lesson in real-time and transparent fundraising

Anyone with an interest in charities and social media is likely to be aware of Twestival. Something that started in 2008 as one tweet and a small gathering in London has grown into a worldwide phenomenon which I'm delighted to be part of. I'm organising the Bristol Twestival, one of more than 175 parties due to take place around the world on 25 March. We're all raising money for one cause; Concern Worldwide, which uses education to help the world's most marginalised and poorest children.

I wrote last year how Twitter and other social media tools are changing the way charities fundraise by putting greater power into the hands of supporters. Well, this year Twestival has gone one step further.

Twestival parties haven't even taken place yet but in a secton on the global blog supporters can access details of exactly how much money has been raised and exactly where that money will be spent - in real time.

Too often charitable fundraising lacks this kind of transparency and interactivity but given where the Twestival idea was born it was inevitable that it would be good at it!

Charities - and indeed social enterprises - have a lot to learn. The social media generation craves information. They don't want to wait until an annual report is published many months after a charitable event has taken place to find out where their money has been spent; they want to know now.
 
Equipping supporters with the kind of information Twestival is providing - even before the event has even actually taken place - not only pleases though converted to the cause but creates cause champions which is turn attracts new backers.
 
So whatever your cause, think real-time!

UPDATED: Is The Phone Co-op’s Social Enterprise Mark award an attempt to quell the critics?

I spotted a tweet this afternoon with a link to the announcement that The Phone Co-op has been awarded the recently launched Social Enterprise Mark. This is a high profile development given that the successful telecoms company was named social enterprise of the year by the Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC) in 2008 and its founder Vivian Woodell is a regular attendee and speaker at the sector’s big events.

What is intriguing however is that at Voice10, SEC’s annual conference in Cardiff, Woodell was asked whether he had applied for the Mark. He said he had but had been rejected because his co-operative didn’t fit the criteria. The comment was made during one of the workshops at Voice10, not during one of the main plenaries, but I was in the room when he said it.

The Social Enterprise Mark’s blog post makes reference to the “concern” over The Phone Co-op being rejected but does not say whether the criteria has been adapted or whether Vivian was mistaken when he made his comment in Cardiff.

Since its high profile launch at Voice10, the Mark has been met with some criticism from social entrepreneurs and other interested parties. Most have focused on Clause E of the criteria which calls for at least 50% of profits to be committed to a social or environmental cause. Those running co-ops have also expressed
concern that they are excluded. 

The cynic in me would say that today’s development is a publicity stunt and an attempt to quell the doubters but at the moment I can’t confirm that. What is clear though is that the Mark does not yet have the support of the entire social enterprise sector and issues such as this won’t help.

I will do some digging and see what I can find out but in the meantime I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

UPDATED (16/02/10)

Yesterday, the following quote from Vivian Woodell was published on the Social Enterprise Mark blog in response to my post above:

“It is absolutely clear that we were not rejected at any stage, and I never said that we were. What I said was that when we read the criteria initially, it looked as if we (along with other co-ops) might not qualify, because of what appeared to be rather rigid rules about profit distribution. They did not change their rules to accommodate us, and what Lucy Findlay said is correct – the application was still in process when I spoke at Voice. We heard that we had been awarded the Mark soon afterwards.”

Fair enough. However, my confusion does perhaps reflect the general confusion about how the rules apply. Woodell thought the criteria ruled him out but it turns out it doesn't. Why?

Poll: Does your social enterprise qualify for the Social Enterprise Mark?

The long awaited Social Enterprise Mark was launched at the Social Enterprise Coalition's Voice10 on Monday evening with indoor fireworks and spectacular circus performances.


After a trial in the South West, the team behind the Mark claim it is a watershed moment for the UK social enterprise sector but does your organisation qualify?

Many social entrepreneurs have criticised the application criteria for excluding some businesses whose owners consider them to be social enterprises. Much of the criticism focuses on the fact that to be awarded the Mark organisations must put at least 50% of profits into a social or environmental cause.

Bloggers like Rob Greenland have expressed concern about the Mark as have some social enterpreneurs on Twitter:

What do you think? Do you qualify for the Mark according to the criteria? Take part in the quick poll below. I'd also be interested to hear why you think you do or don't qualify.

Live video and blog: Voice10, the Social Enterprise Coalition's annual conference

Live video: Voice10 day two



Live blog:



Video replay: Day one of Voice10

Going to Voice10? Join me for a tweet-up!

Live blog: Doug Richard's School for Startups - Growing a successful social enterprise