As I flit between the Scylla and Charybdis of CapacityBuilders Destination 2014 and the new proposal for a Social Investment Bank (see also this Observer interview with Sir Ronald Cohen), news comes in from around our Fellowship network:
– first up, Charles Armstrong, founder and CEO of Trampoline Systems, which was developed with and at the SSE (it also powers our extranet), writes to tell us that they have received £3million funding from US investors; fabulous news, and also a boost for UK-based 2.0 tech companies more generally
– Chris Dabbs, who is both a Fellow and helped establish and run the Salford SSE pilot programme, is now also the co-ordinator of the NHS Social Enterprise Network; Chris e-mails to point me to an article he wrote in Health Services Journal, entitled, Taking care of business (registration/login required; can e-mail a copy if wished) which focuses on the support that (social) entrepreneurs need for the NHS to really be transformed in the way we would all hope….well worth reading
– An SSEI (Ireland) Fellow, Anna Lo, has become the first ever ethnic minority candidate to be elected in Northern Ireland and, indeed, the first Chinese candidate ever to be elected to any UK assembly or parliament. An amazing achievement.
– Jude Habib, who graduated from the London programme in December 2006, points us to her spangly new website which is up and running: her organisation, SoundDelivery is taking "a fresh approach to communications for the third sector", so check our their recent work and activity….
– finally, our chief exec Alastair Wilson, himself a Fellow of the first SSE programme back in 1998, features in Regeneration and Renewal’s current edition (online here but subscription required) under the headline "Have-a-go helper". It’s a good introduction to SSE, covering the methodology (learning by doing, case study driven), the importance of legitimacy ("Nobody appoints a social entrepreneur….it’s very important that they see it is possible to create things from scratch"), its track record (85% projects still running), its history (Michael Young and the importance of personal motivation), and why (and how) the government should invest in supporting social entrepreneurs….
