social entrepreneur | SSE

Whilst writing a comment on a blog about blogs (and whether they are useful social entrepreneurship resources), I listed a few blogs that I find useful as a resource, as places of debate, or for inspiration. And then it occurred to me that it might be useful to share them.

There is a widely-circulated list of the top 50 social entrepreneur blogs here, but only 2 were UK-based (this SSE blog and Rod Schwartz's below). Mine's UK-focused, but includes some relevant international blogs as well. Cue the music, and in no particular order:

1) The Social Business – Rob Greenland's take on the UK scene is arguably the best in our sector, consistently prompting debates and giving real insights

2) Rod Schwartz / ClearlySo's Social Business Blog – One of the most influential reads in the sector, always writing with full honesty, and challenging the norms

3) Beanbags and Bullshit – David Floyd with a real practitioner's take on things; new-ish, but high quality writing and thought thus far

4) Social Enterprise Ambassador blogs – the Social Enterprise Ambassadors are some of the UK's leading social entrepreneurs, and they've been writing posts more regularly; an enlightening and entertaining mix; (Craig Dearden-Phillips blogs in his own right on his Naked Entrepreneur blog too)

5) Social Entrepreneurship on Change.org– Nathaniel Whittemore writes this and writes it bloody well; consistently interesting, illuminating and with high quality content; US-based, but looking outwards

6) Allison Ogden-Newton's blog – CEO of Social Enterprise London gives it straight in a new, promising blog

7) Social Catalyst – Todd Hannula writes great content; it's a little intermittent at times (hey, it happens to us all), but liking how the new site gives routes into content from previous posts; well worth reading

8) Social Edge blogs – cheating slightly here, but Social Edge hosts a whole load of interesting blogs; have a browse and see what takes your fancy from a US-heavy / international development lot; Forging Ahead and Kiva Chronicles are popular

9) How to Change the World – Guy Kawasaki's blog is very well-known and widely-read; about entrepreneurship rather than social entrepreneurship, there's nevertheless some great stuff here

10) Bubb's Blog – Stephen Bubb, CEO of ACEVO, writes the most talked-about blog in the third sector: entertaining, unashamed and gossipy, it's a good place to get a sense of what's happening in the sector, particularly in the public service delivery / social investment / government space

So there you go. Top Twitter feeds to follow soon….

Whilst SSE's focus has been resolutely on the UK over the past 6 months (hello Cornwall, Yorkshire, Devon, Hampshire to the growing franchise), there's also been a bit of international expansion and work going on as well.

By all accounts (there was a significant UK / Scottish presence…), the Social Enterprise World Forum 09 in Melbourne was a great event, and congrats are due to the organisers (Social Traders and all at Social Ventures Australia). To get a sense of what the event was like, you can check out the photo gallery (look forward to Voice 10 being opened with a 'smoking ceremony') or, better still, watch the video of the centrepiece debate, featuring SSE CEO Alastair Wilson in fine form:

SEWF Debate: There's no business like social business from Rowan Attenborough on Vimeo.

Second up video-wise, SSE was the UK partner in recruiting and inputting into the design of the Ariane de Rothschild Fellows Programme on Dialogue and Social Entrepreneurship, involving Jewish and Muslim social entrepreneurs from France, UK and US. Again, it was an exciting thing to be involved in, and we were delighted with the UK participants selected: an amazing bunch, including two SSE Fellows (Athol + Mobeen) and one current SSE student (Norma). Here is a 5 minute video that gives you an insight into the 2 week programme in New York: