Glasgow gives a hoot

First Minister Alex Salmond declaring Scotland as the best place in the world to set up a social enterprise

I have just returned from the Social Enterprise Exchange in balmy Glasgow. Billed as the largest social enterprise event in the UK, it certainly felt like a happening with hundreds of exhibitors and events, and with some excellent plenaries.

Looking back with pride at 2011

Magic Breakfast working to feed London"s hungry kids wins the Big Society Award in 2011 

Looking back on an extraordinary year I can hardly believe that our small organisation could have achieved so much and made such a difference! That is, of course, down to our members, networks, clients, supporters, co-chairs Mark Sesnan and Sophi Tranchell and board, all of whom enabled the fantastic SEL team to really pick up the pace for social enterprise in 2011.

The year started for us by hosting the world’s largest 2012 Olympic social enterprise conference at the London Film Museum where hundreds of delegates met to discuss and plan a successful games that will establish a worthwhile and long-lasting legacy for the wider community.

SEL also held a conference, put together by our own local government expert Mei Hui, especially for London’s local authorities with the support of London Councils. This was the 5^th LAConnects conference and the most successful yet. Bringing together representatives of all 32 boroughs and the City, we took a good hard look at their social enterprise strategies and ways in which boroughs could do more with social enterprise. This was an important conversation to have, especially in such difficult economic times because social enterprises are working with some of society's most vulnerable citizens who are always the hardest hit by economic decline.

A big breakthrough came in 2011 with another seminal partnership, this time with NESTA, the leading innovation agency, with which we worked to established the ground-breaking Transition Institute. The organisation, led by Director and policy supremo Dominic Potter and supported by the dedicated Jillian Oxenham, gained its full institute status from the government - no mean feat, because it provides a unique and vital platform for the discussion and promotion of public sector reform that maximises social value.

I am privileged to Chair the Institute, which has as its board members luminaries like Sir Stephen Bubb, Lord Micheal Bichard, Ed Mayo, Philip Colligan, Sue Bruce, Helen Bailey, Andrew Burnell, Sophia Looney, Mark Sesnan and Ben Lucas.

The Institute has attracted real media attention and as a result been contacted by an ever-growing number of public sector workers looking for information and support in the pursuit of their plans for a new approach to service delivery.

Launching its first publication in 2011, Social Value Ethos the Instutute offers strategic support to the Public Services (Social Value) Bill which, thanks to Chris White MP and Minister Nick Hurd’s tenacious campaigning, has made it to the House of Lords. We hope it gets through and is passed in 2012.

Our international work continued to be a significant part of the 2011 story with SEL consultants working in Croatia, South Korea and Copenhagen led by our chief boffin, Director of Policy and Research, Sabina Khan who has also started a series of tele-events for the Chinese government with partners, the British Council.

SEL’s work with local authorities continued to blossom and, over the year, we trained over 400 local authority officers in how they might approach becoming independent service deliverers. Building on their challenges and experiences and those of the 10 local authorities we worked through our consultancy team, we published Spin Out and Deliver from the Guardian as part of our Social Enterprise Day celebrations, which has since been downloaded from the SEL site many thousands of times.

We also continued to work with the Department of Health researching the challenges faced by health sector spin-out services through our research hub and consultancy. 

Our links with the corporate world also defined 2011 in that we delivered eight oversubscribed events for social entrepreneurs sponsored by our partners KPMG and PwC. These events have become astonishingly popular and offer real evidence of the way in which the larger City-based firms have valuable expertise to offer social enterprises that our members, in turn, are delighted to benefit from. 

Thanks to our Membership Team, Emma Hodson and Clare Sharpen, the SEL family has risen in number steadily all year and means that despite the battles we have fought and, I have to say, not always won for social enterprise, we are clearly doing something right. Offering programmes like ERDF Winning Contracts headed up by our own powerhouse Sue Potter, we know has really helped members. This programme saw us train over 580 social enterprises in improving their performance in securing and delivering quality public sector contracts. Independent assessment showed that our training resulted in over £4 million of new business being won by clients who specified the training they had from SEL was key to their subsequent success. 

I was a judge for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the Guardian Public Sector, the Third Sector and Social Enterprise Photography awards all in 2011. These competitions might not change the world but they give us an unparalleled opportunity to make sure that social enterprises like Livity in Brixton and the Acton African Well Woman Centre get the recognition they deserve.

Our membership goes from strength to strength and is about to top 3,000, which is fantastic and makes us the largest social enterprise community in Europe. It seems that as things get tougher, social enterprises are looking for more information and support and SEL is the obvious go-to choice. 

Having the design and techno wizard, Surbhi Bahl sorting out our front end has, I hope you agree, made a real difference to the impact and clarity of our message. Surbhi has made sure that the success of members like Magic Breakfast, which joined SEL members GLL and Central Surrey Health when they bagged a Big Society Award in 2011, was shared by the whole network and SEL’s now significant global audience. 

Astonishingly 2011 saw SEL get our members covered in at least 43 pieces of national media and countless more sector-specific and local media sources. We also continued to do well in the world of social media with a combined (SEL, Transition Institute and aogdennewton) Twitter following of over 6,000 and consistently high Google ratings. If you search social enterprise from anywhere in the world, SEL will not be far from the top of any search engines suggested links.

But what is my highlight of 2011? It has to be the successful conclusion of our London Future 500 programme in which we got 500 young people jobs in social enterprise, 69% of whom are no longer on benefits.

Social enterprise is all about making a difference, and that certainly is making a very big difference indeed.

I wish you all the very best for the holidays and a prosperous 2012, whatever it brings SEL will be there working tirelessly and creatively for you,

All the very best

Allison

Never getting board

The Divine Sophi, a welcome addition to any creative meeting especially as she brings the choc!

The Social Enterprise London board has always been a source of inspiration to me. From the very beginning, it has been made up of some of the country's foremost social entrepreneurs. Co-chairs Mark Sesnan of GLL and Sophi Tranchell of Divine were supporters from the start, seeing the importance of a London-based agency promoting social enterprise. Other social enterprise stars joined the party later. These are busy people with often large businesses to run and in today's economic climate no one is unaffected by recession and has time to spare for the non-essentials.

So I continue to be humbled by the active and energised support of all our stalwarts. We had such a productive meeting this week, again well attended (SEL board meetings have never come close to being inquorate) and with some really strong and creative contributions. Sophi was very generous with the chocolate, which added to our clear thinking, and my thanks to June O'Sullivan for the use of her Marsham Street LEYF nursery as a venue.

SEL is going through a period of change in that we know our job is to ramp up social enterprise development, but the reality is there is very little money out there to pay us to do what we do best. We have known for some time that we face a double, triple even quadruple whammy as central government cut 90% of the contracts they had previously deployed to support social enterprise and regional growth by shutting, among other programmes, the RDAs, business links, Government Offices and Future Jobs Fund. Local governments are coping with swinging reductions in their budgets and have similarly cut much of their economic development initiatives. Those contracts that remain on offer from government or grant funding bodies now face hysterical levels of competition due to their scarcity and most crucially social enterprises themselves have diminished resources to pay for the business support they need. Any plan to achieve sustainability through the direct payment of fees needs to ask itself some hard questions.

What we face is a perfect storm with social enterprise in general and SEL in particular being asked to do more than ever with unprecedented low levels of resource. I have always been a fan of Blue Peter but even I am not sure what I can do for social enterprises with a cereal packet, toilet roll and some sticky-back plastic.

What we do have, however, is a solid reputation for delivery, a loyal membership and a perfect board. Their combined skills, experience, commitment and enthusiasm is an extraordinary resource in itself and one I shall be deploying heavily in the months to come. I have to say that although the cuts are a real pressure point, I enjoy the entrepreneurialism the new climate has teased out. I do not subscribe to the view that only the best survive tough times as I have already seen some good social enterprises go to the wall because social value is still a concept ahead of its time, but I do think at times like these you find out what you do best and who your friends are.

Its going to be bumpy and to ride this out, our offer to our 2,600 members must to be spot on. Watch this space, we will be calling on members for feedback and welcoming all interaction. You are going to be hearing a great deal from us so please do let us know if you like, or not, what you hear.

Diary of a work placement newbie: Imogen Morrell tells us about her week at SEL



Sophi Tranchell and I at the ACEVO lunch

Arriving at Social Enterprise London (SEL) I realised what a complete novice I was to the ‘the workplace’. I finished my GCSEs only recently and since then have spent two weeks sleeping and sitting on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle getting cross. I was ready for some structure.

The parallels between social enterprise and feminism

Both need to go beyond the convention of what defines them and be open to new ideas, says Allison Ogden-Newton in today's Guardian Professional

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• Allison Ogden-Newton
• Guardian Professional, Monday 20 June 2011 12.00 BST
• Article history

Social enterprise and feminism need to go beyond the convention of what defines them and be open to new ideas Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

Having read Aida Edemariam's interview with Caitlin Moran in the Guardian, Moran's new book "How to Be a Woman" sounds like essential reading, even if I think I already know how to be a woman. The timing is good as we had Sophi Tranchell, co-chair of Social Enterprise London and managing director of Divine Chocolate on Woman's Hour this week talking about the role of women in social enterprise.

Like Sophi and I, Moran calls herself a feminist and bemoans the fact that 58% of British and 71% of American women choose to not call themselves that.

Shame. She also makes the point that the feminist movement is too purist, setting hurdles to jump and traps to fall into for its prospective followers.

I have often said social enterprise reminds me of the feminist movement. I was involved in the movement as much as I am now in social enterprise - until it started to eat itself, that is. The problem was one of leadership. If the leaders and spokespeople, spokeswomen in this case, decide to define feminism as something you can only achieve if you live in a women-only commune, then most people are going to look elsewhere for moral, spiritual and political guidance.

That is why, having not yet read Moran's thesis I applaud her bring-it-on views on high heels, Brazilian waxing, men and motherhood. I love that she believes that there should be more humour, even on subjects such as abortion. The truth is that the agitation for change often comes from the energy of outrage, but is, in my opinion, only institutionalised for the benefit of all by humour, with which comes acceptance. That is why people who don't find social enterprise/feminism/you-name-it funny frighten me, and why I think those that feel they own the intellectual property or moral high ground on these issues are dangerous.

I was part of fierce rows within the sisterhood in the late 1980s about the sanctity of women-only courses, programmes, funding and housing. I believed then, and still do now, that women will always do better if they are allowed to develop their skills in women-only groups before pitting their fledgling confidence against the often male-dominated work arena. But we were not going to win. Our arguments were largely staged for one another and we didn't notice that those in charge of budgets were men who found our demands shrill and self-serving.

What we needed to do was compromise and welcome a broader spectrum of like-minded people into our world. Money was tight, the Conservatives were in power and getting people, primarily men, into work was the great national challenge. Sound familiar? Only those of a certain age will remember this, but there was a time in the 1980s when every major city in England had a women-only construction training facility (one run by me), funding streams and housing. Only a fraction of that remains, most having been 'subsumed into the mainstream' (read gone).

So what did I learn? Instead of demanding splendid segregation to spend time defining and refining purist notions of feminism (rejection of men, makeup, leghair etc), we should have taken charge of stuff and travelled with our beliefs, allowing them to be tempered with what we learnt on our journey to power about the needs of others (men, painted and smooth-legged women and the like).

If I can take lessons from Moran in how to be a woman, I can also learn from my members about what a social enterprise is. To be able to deliver public services at scale and compete with the big bad boys, social enterprises will need to attract investment as part-employee owned Circle Holdings Plc has announced this week. All definitions might and indeed should be different again tomorrow – for some Lady Gaga is redefining a highly liberated view of womanhood – these are all things that should inspire and intrigue, not threaten us.

Women, like many social entrepreneurs, are in charge of very little. Those who are seem to think that the free market, like a logger's monster truck crunching its way through the rainforest, should be allowed to follow its path unchallenged, and that anyone in receipt of public funds, be they a start-up business, an SME, infrastructure organisation or government contract deliverer, is contributing to the deficit and should learn to live without government money. If our arguments fail to be persuasive, much that is critical to the development of those who do not already dominate the market, like social enterprises, could be lost.

So let feminists wear make-up and social enterprises go where no one has gone before. You never know, we might like what we find. I like marriage and motherhood and I like taking ideas about social value and profit-making not profiteering into new territories like public services. It all feels right, whatever the purists say.

Women can paint their nails as well as walls and social enterprises can use investment capital and still be social enterprises.

Allison Ogden-Newton is the chief executive of Social Enterprise London.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the social enterprise network, click here.

What a night!

I am recovering from a fun evening hosting Sir Stephen Bubb, CEO of ACEVO

What does International Women's Day mean for social enterprise?

Today is the centenary of International Women’s Day.  I picked up some tweets earlier asking why we need a specific day to celebrate the contribution of women?

And now for my next trick...

Yes its that time of year when as well as promoting social enterprise to anyone who will stand still long enough to hear me, and looking after the family, you can add Christmas fairy.

At the best of times life can be a bit circus like, hitting all the targets, making all the meetings and as I did last Tuesday picking up a winter coat for my eldest and then dragging it from venue to venue. Actually it was quite an interesting day. I had a great chin wag with government innovation leading light, Ruth Kennedy in Westminster then off to the very grand Marlborough House on Pall Mall for a reception for the First International Responsible Capitalist of the Year awards. My co-chair Sophi Tranchell, the Managing Director of Divine Chocolate was getting one of this years awards and despite the dodgy title it was a very exciting moment for Sophi and our movement, so I wanted to be there to cheer her on. Previous winners have been the CEO's of GlaxoSmithKline, Starbucks and Siemens. This was their first sortie into the social enterprise world and judging but the cheer Sophi's speech got, I hope it won't be their last. She was given her award by Vince Cable, who was a very engaged listener as Sophi's spoke eloquently of being in business to change business and ethical behaviour needing to be central to what you do not just a nice add on.

Prior to the ceremony I chatted to Douglas Hurd about his son Nick, our Minister. He spoke of Nick's enthusiasm for the brief and seemed a very proud dad, which was nice. I also bumped into Trevor Bayliss who was charming as always. We often see him in our favourite pub in Twickenham so seeing each other in such a grand setting was odd. My 12 year old is his biggest fan and wants to be Trevor when he grows up, either that or Gromit.

I then shot off late to the Guardian Public Service Awards, a dinner I needed to go to as I had been a judge this year. On the way there, I got a call from the event organiser which made my heart sink. My first thought was that I was speaking and had forgotten, after all you don't usually get a call checking if your turning up once an event has started. No, she reassured me, it was just that they had put me on the top table with the Guardian MD and Jeremy Vine and by not being there I had left an empty seat. Oops. It turned out to be a really fun table, apparently I was the only person there whom Jeremy had not had on his show and as if to make up for it he gave me quite a grilling on social enterprise, which he seemed really interested in. The awards were inspiring, its a great idea to recognise those people who often do thankless jobs in the public sector and do them really well for the benefit of all of us.

At midnight I picked up my son's coat from its third cloakroom of the day and headed home thinking about the thousand additional little jobs that need doing in the next 4 weeks. Thank god for technology. I have created my annual multiple Christmas spread sheets, drawn up my schedules and hit the internet hard. All very spontaneous. With over 50 close friends and relatives to gift, and the kids to sort as well as the house to de clutter, again, decorate and prepare for invasion, its always a lively month. Still, as a firm believer in the six p's (Prior planning prevents a piss poor performance) and as someone who needs very little sleep, I'm ahead of the game.

I tell you what I am looking forward to though, is a drink! This is Day 24 of my no-alchol regime and I can't wait for sight of the finishing post on the 16th. I can't remember why I started this nonsense, but Christmas will be a lot more fun once I jump of the bloody wagon. After all, the Christmas Fairy needs to get her spirit from somewhere.

Social enterprise moves from CSR to supply chain - its official

I've been to a few ministerial lunches where the hand picked guests make their case on a given topic for the benefit of the politician present. Our little lunch, with private, public and social enterprise leaders upping the anti on buying from social enterprise, this Thursday, was different. For a start Angela Smith, our Minister, was totally on the money, she didn't stand on ceremony and she really got stuck in sharing her views and asking loads of questions. Secondly everyone present was equally animated, leading to the most exciting conversation on procurement you can imagine. Thanks to the LDA for supporting us in making it happen.

Angela was shadowing Sophi Tranchell from Divine Chocolate for the day, as part of a social enterprise Ambassadors Programme initative. She told me she was learning all about the chocolate world and found it really interesting. Not unsurprisingly, I suppose.

At the lunch, held at the Baltic in Southwark, we did talk about Government being a bad shopper, but much more engaging than that we heard from Ray Mills, Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers who told us about his clients that want to spend millions with social enterprise. Our old friend Colin Crooks, CEO at Green Works confirmed that in the early days their first contract with HSBC came in at 28 times their turnover. That's unthinkable in the public sector where contracts are often a maximum of no more than 25% of turnover. So maybe if social enterprises are to grow quickly, as Green Works did, the private sector as purchaser, is the place to start.

In any event no one was talking about CSR. For the big business in the room, social enterprise was a provider, not a post divided investment in PR. That has to be good news.

I'm looking forward to a day at the allotment. Because I have had so much on I have only been able to stay on top of the garden. I sorted out my 2010 seeds last night and put my seed potatoes out to chit (technical term for sprouting shoots) and tomorrow I'll be pruning my apple trees and soft fruits. I will no doubt end the day looking like I've had a fight with a mad cat, covered in scratches, but frankly, I can't wait. My idea of fun.

Anything but board

Education is very much in the air for social enterprise. I picked up Red Mummy's blog last night thanks to a tip off from Stephen Fry's Tweet which chimed with the things I've been saying about schools. Parents of children in many secondary schools up and down the country are really not happy and they want things to improve. The blog is facinating and echoed  a number of conversations I have had lately.

This morning I met with officers from Lambeth Council and Sarah Neuff from the fantastic development trust, Coin Street Community Builders to launch a really exciting initiative designed to develop social enterprise in the borough. I think Lambeth is really showing its dynamic commitment to social enterprise and I look forward to working on a project which I'm sure will establish the borough's credentials for innovation.

Interestingly Lambeth is the only place in the UK that has succeeded in establishing a parent run school, something I discovered when meeting with Paul Mason from Parent Promoted Foundation this morning.  Paul is leading the monumental struggle of Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen parents, trying to establish a school in the area that meets children's needs.  The thing I like best about this movement of ours is meeting people like Paul who are real social innovators, fighting to create a world I for one, want to live in.  Parents should be able to run schools, certainly where local authorities have failed; they couldn't do a worse job. In fact, I think they could do an excellent one. Paul told me the Foundation have the backing of 2000 local parents, impressive. He and I worked over possible models, related initiaitives and where social enterprise fitsin - all good stuff. 

I think this growing development in education (exemplified by the work CfBT commisioned SEL to do on social enterprises delivering extended services in schools) is unstoppable. Clearly the existing system needs an injection of responsibility, commitment and enthusiasm.  All qualities you get in spades from people like Paul, working to improve the community for people like me and my family. watch this space for our up and coming conference on this.

This afternoon my lovely board met.  The SEL Board is a meeting place for many of the UK's leading social entrepreneurs, chaired ably today by Sophi Tranchell MD of Divine Chocolate.  During the discussions we learnt from Carmel McConnell of Magic Breakfast about a great deal they've done with Quaker Oats whose packaging now carries a 5p per pack funding commitment to Magic Breakfast, Carmel's social enterprise that currently feeds over 3000 children a day who arrive at London schools too hungry to learn. So go out and buy Quaker Oats people!

Off to a reception for Southwark Leaders now, no rest for the wicked.