Quick social enterprise and social entrepreneurship round-up to end the week:
– Most interesting conversation of the week is over on Social Edge with the provocatively-titled debate 'Are the Only Innovations in Social Entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon?'; kudos to Rod for kicking it off, and to others for some great comments
– On the eve of the OTS-DBERR, Byrne-Mandelson summit,, which I'll report on next week, a different taskforce recommends social enterprise staying where it is (and not returning to DBERR, or DTI as was); on balance, I think we'd agree with that….
– Other big news circulating is the Future Jobs Fund, and the intention to include charities and social enterprises amongst the deliverers; an example of the opportunities in this recession?
– Enjoyed 10 lessons from a failed start-up (if slightly techie)
– A new kind of capitalism (Bill Gates / social entrepreneurship?) on BBC Business
– Umair Haque on the best business model in the world (short summary: "create something awesome"), which also introduces the neat powerpoint-busting presentation tool, Prezi.com
– I have to mention the Shine Unconference again: sessions are looking blindingly good: everyone from Bridges Ventures to Mother branding agency to What If to ourselves/UnLtd to policymakers to David Wilcox on collaboration to pitches for funding and much more….if you're anywhere near-ish to London next Friday/Saturday, you should get a ticket before they all go!
– More self-promotion: SSE plans global expansion article in Social Enterprise Mag, covering all the recent developments here at SSE towers…
– Craig Dearden-Phillips remains one of the most honest and articluate bloggers and writers out there; here's his recent take on the Art of Communication
– Two bits of news from the Office of the Third Sector of relevance: the targeted support fund (previously announced in the recession action plan) is open for business; arguably even more interesting is the local council created endowment fund in Essex
– I hesitate to do this but here's a link to How to Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship; I'll follow that up with a link to Rob Greenland's Three Things I Wish I'd Known post which includes "Sometimes the most entrepreneurial thing you can do is stop doing something"…..
– Finally, I read somewhere this week: "A social entrepreneur can see the world in a grain of sand, heaven in a wild flower and hold infinity in the palm of his hand for eternity"; to which a few things occur to me: 1) hopefully a social entrepreneur can do stuff as well; 2) perhaps it might be 'her' hand as well? and 3) most social entrepreneurs at this point on a Friday are more interested in holding a glass of wine/beer in the palm of their hand (for as long as it lasts…).
Welcome to all the blog's new readers, especially those new SSE-ers in Sydney!
