Monthly Archives: June 2006

Scottish social enterprise news

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The world of social enterprise and entrepreneurship in Scotland is covered so authoritatively, and with such panache, by Laurence DiMarco of Senscot (his Friday e-mail bulletin is often  a refreshing, personal update), that it hardly seems worth treading on the same ground. But, nevertheless, a couple of interesting pieces of news:

– Kibble Care have released a DVD training tool, entitled "Social Enterprise – Working Across Scotland" which is being delivered free, no less, to Scottish social enterprises and entrepreneurs

– [c/o Senscot] Gordon Brown is going to launch the Social Enterprises in Fife Directory at Brag Enterprises on June 23rd 2006, hosted by the Fife Social Enterprise Network. The SSE in Fife is also based at Brag, along with several Fellows, so I’m sure they will be in attendance too.

And news from further afield: the poster boy of Phillipine social enterprise, Illac Diaz

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Can big business still be ethical?

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Interesting piece in the Guardian about whether ethical businesses can maintain their values and ethos when taken over by a large multinational (i.e. BodyShop and Loreal, Green & Blacks and Cadbury’s). The article, called When big business bites uses Ethical Consumer‘s ratings to argue that ethical credentials can be lost in a global behemoth that encompasses so many different strands, investments, stakeholders and so on. So Body Shop gets a low ‘ethiscore’ not only because it is part of a massive multinational and so forth, but also because Nestle own 26% of it (with all the baggage that brings).

The true test must be in the longer term: can these smaller businesses wield influence and clout from within that can change the culture of the organisations they find themselves in? Probably too early to say. And there should be questions that aren’t framed in simplistic ways: is it better for Green & Blacks to remain small (and beautiful?) or to expand to the point where new organic cocoa and fairtrade plantations are being demanded….already, their Maya Gold bar (the only one in their range that is fairtrade) is struggling to find enough organic/fairtrade beans, at least according to the Cadbury’s guy on Radio 5’s Business programme last weekend.

What is interesting is the convergence that the article ignores. It sees the world in terms of multinational corporates (big, bad and unethical) and small ethical businesses (small, lovely and social). But that is a world that is becoming increasingly blurred, as those more forward thinking organisations are not approaching CSR from a hand-outs/green-wash point of view, but from an "integral to our future" point of view. Unilever, for example, have done work with the Marine Stewardship Council, the recent You Buy U Give scheme for Sport Relief, and Ben & Jerry UK‘s impressive range of social/environmental activities. Not enough for them to be called a social enterprise, but more substantial than the ‘charity of the year’ stuff one sees elsewhere.

And can there ever be a multinational ethical business or social enterprise? Or will scale always end up compromising (or diluting) values, approach and ethical credentials? At least it seems that in the future we will get the chance to find out.

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The perils and delights of public service delivery

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Public service delivery: those three words dominate the third sector’s relationship with government at present. Contracts to deliver education or health services (etc) clearly bring great opportunities for organisations, be they small community groups, or substantial social enterprises. But, in the manner of a swift SWOT analysis (or an OT analysis), contracts also bring threats or challenges.

Third Sector magazine’s supplement this week features "10 Ways to Better Contracts":

1) Make sure partnerships are beneficial to both parties
2) Share project risks fairly
3) Agree a reasonable timescale
4) Insist on full cost recovery
5) Make sure the bureaucracy is manageable
6) Agree only to projects that fit your mission statement
7) Highlight the added value you can provide
8) Maintain autonomy
9) Clarify staff roles
10) Monitor project progress

Later on they lay out a further six principles to help organisations on their way in this area. These are:

a) Know where to look
b) Full cost recovery
c) Use your charitable status to your advantage
d) Don’t feel intimidated
e) Know your limitations
f) Understand employment law

Some of these clearly align (4 and b, 7 and c, 3/5 and e) but I think they give a useful overview. Key ones from our experience both as an organisation, and helping others founding/running their organisations, are 5 and 6. The bureaucracy, particularly for smaller organisations, should not be underestimated, and can prove a significant administrative burden; partnership can ADD to these layers of bureaucracy as well. Avoiding mission drift is key: the temptation is always there to bend to fit contracts, which can skew or twist your core service and the way it is delivered. It can also take an organisation into areas where it has less expertise and experience. Being clear about where your expertise lies, and what parts of a contract (or method of approach) are most relevant to your organisation can lead to fruitful negotiations at the start of the process, rather than down the line.

Partnership is an interesting one as well: it can help form a coalition of parties whose skills and experience mesh well together, and provide smaller organisations with the ability to tender for bigger contracts than they could on their own. Successful partnerships should clearly add value, reduce unnecessary duplication and broaden reach (as we would argue our franchise system does for the SSE Network). But their are also significant risks: unclear governance, muddled purpose, blurred accountability, time-heavy meetings/administration, compatibility issues, dilution of activities and so on.

There’s much else to say here, and I would point people to ACEVO’s Full Cost Recovery site, NCVO’s work on the Compact and public services, and SEC’s pamphlets on public procurement for more useful information.

 

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Events in the sector – June/July 2006

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OK, quick round-up of some conferences/events coming up that might be of interest:

– first up, for those of an academic learning, the 3rd Social Enterprise Research Conference is taking place at London South Bank University on the 22nd-23rd June; see the list of papers here

– on the same day, the 23rd, Community Links are hosting the Living Values conference, at which their report on values in the sector (aiming to "encourage boldness") will be launched; should be an interesting and timely event, and you can read a snippet from the report (pdf) via their website

– Social Firms Annual Conference, snappily titled ‘Shaping the Future: Supportive Employment, Successful Businesses", is on June 26th at my alma mater, Warwick University

– and, finally, the CICs – One Year On event is being held on July 10th; it promises to both celebrate and debate a year of the Community Interest Company…

If you have the time to go to them all, you’re clearly not working hard enough ;0)

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The Acumen Fund (Fellows)

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One blog worth keeping an eye on is the Acumen Fund blog, which is, somewhat unsurprisingly, the blog of the US-based Acumen Fund. It’s a non-profit global venture fund that aims to use "entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty", with a particular focus on health, water and housing.

Most recently, they have announced the first Acumen Fellows, and are introducing them with fuller portraits over the coming weeks. The Fellows programme is centred round the concept that "The world needs to build an ‘entrepreneurial bench’ of top talent with strong financial and operational skills, as well as the moral imagination to build appropriate enterprises with local stakeholders".

Putting aside the interesting concept of an ‘entrepreneurial bench’ for one moment (I’m assuming this is a sporting metaphor for having a good squad of skilled players….), it’s quite an interesting approach. An eight week intensive training course in New York before a 9-month project which they manage and deliver. Though the blurb does come across as these being investment/project managers for the Acumen Fund, they might fit in our ever-broader definition of social entrepreneurs. The missing element (from an SSE point of view) might be that of personal identification/engagement with the project, and, therefore, ‘real’ ownership of that project….but in terms of giving people appropriate skills and confidence and knowledge to go on to achieve things, there’s considerable alignment.

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