Category Archives: Social Entrepreneurs

Tim Smit tells first Cornwall SSE Fellows to be bold!

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Photo_11901_20100215 I was privileged to attend the first ever graduation of the Cornwall School for Social Entrepreneurs last Friday. And what a venue the Eden Project provided, thanks to Tim Smit + his team, for the first 15 social entrepreneurs from the county to become SSE Fellows.

Tim is Patron to the Cornwall SSE, and opened proceedings in rousing fashion, saying that "social enterprise is the most important business model" and that none of the Fellows should underestimate what can be achieved when you "get a group of people who believe in something" together. He talked of Grameen Bank and Grameen Phone as examples to demonstrate ambition and vision; and of the need for an investment in leadership.

I loved what he had to say about the need for social entrepreneurs to "take gambles based on knowledge, gambles worth taking", and on having support systems in place for when you fail (which is to be encouraged). He emphasised that the (support) networks and relationships from going through the SSE programme will be the "people you need who will catch you if you fall".

Finally, he said that he was proud to be a patron, wished them the best of luck, to be brave, bold, aggressive and ambitious, to demand mentorship and, characteristically, to not "believe the hippy shit that you can't make profit".

It's a tough gig to follow Tim at the best of times, but this day was really about the 15 social entrepreneurs completing the first ever Cornwall programme. You can see their details online via the SSE Cornwall website, or download the pdf of the great graduation booklet to learn more about each of their projects and organisations. They cover a huge breadth and diversity of areas, as ever: claims management, fuel poverty, positive news, circus courses, menopause self-care, mental health, sustainable clothing, fair trade, and more.

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It would be wrong to pick out any individual, but massive congratulations to them all: they all gave fabulous presentations, and have made tremendous progress since I facilitated a session with them in Penzance last year. And nice for those who've worked tirelessly behind the scenes (Sally, Charlotte, Carolyn, Suzanne, Carleen and many more) to make this happen to hear some of the quotes during the day from these new Fellows:

"SSE has enabled me to be the person I want to be"

"As my tutor said, 'imperfect action is better than perfect inaction' "

"SSE has helped me get real"

"I have faced down the dreaded business plan!"

"With the guidance and advice I've had, I know I will set it up"

"SSE opened up a lot of doors for me"

"SSE has been fantastic, enjoyable and emotional"

"SSE has allowed me to learn from others, and have a network of people who believe in me"

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As Tim said, the true success of Cornwall SSE will be judged by what it, and those it has supported, have achieved in 10 years' time. And, as he says, "The School is a vital addition to the capacity of Cornwall and we at Eden are proud to be supporters". It's certainly off to a great beginning, as are these Cornwall social entrepreneurs, and we look forward to carrying on supporting them on their journeys. And we'll work on the exchange programme with your 'twin' franchise in Sydney…. :0)

[P.S. If you're interested in being part of the next Cornwall group, check out recruitment details + info (pdf). They are recruiting now!]

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O2, social enterprise, and hitting the mainstream

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Peter_Simon_Sam_VOICE10 Amongst all the hullabaloo and fall–out from the launch of the Social Enterprise Mark (see previous post for our take), most commentators missed what I think could be a much more important announcement made at Voice 10 last week: that O2 are committing to providing services and raising awareness of social enterprise to its customers and staff. Or, as they put it, "this is the age of social enterprise, and O2 is welcoming it with open arms". See the page on their website for more.

Obviously for this to be more than just standard CSR verbiage, O2 will need to follow through on that commitment, but I'm encouraged by what I've heard about the number of practical offers and initiatives to follow in the coming months, and the fact that the conversations are with the core business team, not the CSR department; the proof will be in the eating, as ever. The exciting thing is that, rather than looking inwardly at percentages of traded income and dividend levels, this is an example of getting the word out externally to a much bigger audience: through high street retail outlets, a website with reach far beyond any in this sector, and to staff (c. 30,000) and customers (nigh on 20 million) in huge numbers. A massive opportunity for the movement, potentially.

The Social Enterprise Ambassadors programme has often been criticised, sometimes rightly, sometimes (I've felt, admittedly as a partner in its delivery: disclaimer!) inaccurately. But its original brief was to get the word out and raise awareness to new audiences: young people, commissioners, and the commercial business sector. This is a great example, led by Sam Conniff of Livity, of just that kind of work. Alongside the job swaps being organised between ambassadors and leading corporate executives (working with organisations such as Google, Disney, Tribal, Coutts, Rok and more), and speaking engagements across the country, and the current mentoring competition, real progress is being made.

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(Social enterprise) mark my words….

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One of the (many!) benefits of working at the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) is that we don’t have to spend too much of our time involved in the definition debates about “what is a social enterprise?” Social entrepreneurs start with a mission, a goal or social objective, and choose whichever activities, income streams, governance, business model and legal structure are best suited to achieving that initial aim. The challenge then becomes one of gaining legitimacy + credibility, through concentrating on financial sustainability, quality of delivery, measuring social impact, involving stakeholders, and communicating all of that transparently. As Aleksandr Orlov would say, “Simples”. 

Where the mark becomes of relevance is for SSE students and Fellows who have chosen a social enterprise model or structure, which is an increasing number: from Bikeworks to Catch 22 magazine to Patient Opinion (and countless others at an earlier stage). And the mark could potentially be useful in helping a social entrepreneur and their social enterprise establish that crucial credibility and legitimacy, given that the criteria cover social impact, trading (relating to financial sustainability), governance etc, and that the mark is all about communication. 

As a ‘learning-by-doing’ organization, ultimately the success of the mark will be judged not this week, or possibly even this year but in 5 or 10 years time. While the CIC structure has itself been a useful ‘identifier’ for the public sector (as I pointed out previously here), a mark that has recognition and value across sectors and markets would have real value. That recognition and value will only come through practice and usage, and whether it is perceived to be worth it on both sides (by practitioners, such as SSE students, starting up and by the markets they operate in). 

 So for all the rumours (is it a halo, is it a swoosh?….does the Guardian qualify for the mark? will Peter Holbrook be fired from a cannon across the stage at Voice 10 to launch it?) and the intense, inward-facing debates that have surrounded the mark to date, and for all the unanswered questions that remain (how will it be marketed, priced, assured, sustained?), the much more important times are ahead. Because now it’s about delivery, not debate; practice, not planning; marking territory, not marking time.

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Working with Young People: a peer learning session

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YPedit2Just two days ago, the SSE was able to organise a learning session that not only transformed the way individuals thought about young people, but how to work with these young people to define and work towards common goals. This is how it went:
It began during my first week in the SSE office (January 4-9). One of my responsibilities was to ensure that we would have “at least 10 participants” for the event to be successful. Estimating that over half of those who RSVP would not show up, Cynthia advised me to confirm around or as close to 25 as I could.

Nervous at first, I became quite comfortable with the recruiting tasks and communicating with those interested in attending this event. Through countless inbound and outbound e-mails, I had an RSVP list of 34, with 6 more on a Wait List by 20 January, the end of the timeframe I was given. It was a success so far: some were not convinced and as YPedit1a challenge, Cynthia and my fellow intern Matt decided to put a “Full English Breakfast” on the line at a local greasy spoon for who could estimate how many of the 34 would attend. I suppose I knew more information than the others, but regardless, that full English breakfast was delightful. 

Returning to the event, we had twenty-eight participants (including myself and Rosie Ferguson’s young colleague) which packed the Michael Young room like a can of sardines. Prior to the start of the learning session, we had a glorious buffet of cold meats, cheeses, breads, salYPedit3ads, and vegetables catered by SSE’s very own CMN (Cynthia-Matt-Nick) Catering. The session then commenced and London Director of London Youth Rosie Ferguson took the floor and facilitated both the workshop through both large group and small group discussions about “how to engage young people once they’re on board.”

Within the discussions participants often tied working with youth with ideas of partnerships and sponsorships, stereotypes and generalisations, and the balance of professionalism and personality needed to build the bridge between young people and the entrepreneurial world. We were also able to do real-life case studies of each other’s projects and organisations in terms of how we meet the needs of our 6 P's (People, Place, Price, Promotion, Philosophy, and Product) and how our organisations are only as strong as the weakest of these elements.

Overall, the learning session was a huge success thanks to all of the recruiting work done by Cynthia, all of those who helped spread the word about the event, Capacity Builders for supporting the event, Rosie Ferguson for sharing her knowledge and experience, and all the participants for being extremely engaged in the discussions.

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Connected: why different networks are crucial for social entrepreneurs

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Connected Was fascinated reading an article in the paper this weekend, entitled "Are your friends making you fat", which is all about research that demonstrates the influence of friends in your network on how you live and work. Like all the best books of this type, Connected seems at its heart to be based on a very obvious idea: that social networks affect our behaviour more powerfully than we tend to acknowledge. Be that in becoming obese, taking up (or quitting) smoking, or what we wear.

For me, the article became more interesting when it started to talk about how the success of projects or initiatives might depend on different types of networks. For example, the article discusses the success of a broadway musical:

Christakis tells the story of a friend of his, Brian Uzzi, who has used
the impact of social networks to analyse the success or otherwise of
Broadway musicals. "He finds that if the key players – the director,
costume designer, sound person, producer, etc – all worked together
before, and everyone knows everyone else, then the show is a flop. He
also finds that if you put together a group of people, who have never
worked together before, the show is also a flop. But if you put
together a group of people some of whom have worked together and some
who haven't, then the show is a runaway critical success with enormous
financial rewards."

This got me thinking about what I often say in presentations about SSE and why we attempt to put together a diverse group of social entrepreneurs in a cohort, and the importance of the network they develop in terms of resource, opportunity, support and experience. It's also worth reflecting on this when thinking about the type of organisation you build and the mix of skills + trust that is needed.

Later on in the piece, the researcher (Nicholas Christakis) discusses this in a different evolutionary context:

"If you want to hunt a mastodon," Christakis says, "it's really good if
all your friends know each other because you can work closely together
to kill it. But if you want to find a mastodon, it's much
better if your friends don't know each other – because they'll all have
the same information. If you don't know your friend's friend, the
chances are he will be able to tap more distant regions of the network."

I think this is potentially fascinating from a social entrepreneur's point of view, and demonstrates why networks can be so important to success.

For example, in the early stages of researching and establishing a new organisation (or 'finding a mastodon' in this context), a social entrepreneur needs information, expertise, inspiration, support and knowledge from a variety of sources. That's when the cohort of like-minded, supportive people who don't know each other beforehand can come into play, along with the networks of witnesses and staff they come into contact with at SSE.

Then, when it's about running the organisation, and building and mobilising a community of support behind it (or 'killing the mastodon'), it is those who share the same mission + are part of the same group or team who can play a key role in making that happen. The ability and confidence of the social entrepreneur to build that community + team around them, and to 'bring people with them'  on the journey is then pivotal.

Get both of those networks right, and those mastodons won't have a chance there'll be plenty more successful entrepreneurs and organisations to be influenced by.

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