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Social enterprise initiative lacks direction, experts say
By Helen Warrell, Third Sector, 25 June 2008
Ambassadors: meeting with Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office
The Government-funded initiative to raise the profile of social enterprise is unfocused and lacks direction, according to several of the 33 experts appointed to act as social enterprise ambassadors under the scheme.
The idea of appointing ambassadors to tell their stories at high-level events and in the media was set out in the Office of the Third Sector's social enterprise action plan in November 2006.
After a meeting last week to discuss the initiative, one ambassador, who asked not to be named, told Third Sector: "There is a shared criticism that the scheme hasn't been focused enough or got ambassadors into the right places or levels."
Some ambassadors at the London event were dissatisfied with PR company Hanover. It was suggested the ambassadors should reclaim its annual £68,000 fee and promote themselves.
A Hanover spokeswoman said it was committed to the scheme, provided a significant pro bono contribution each year and wanted to continue working with the ambassadors. The Social Enterprise Coalition has overall responsibility for the scheme as part of a £600,000 deal.
Jonathan Bland, chief executive of the coalition, said the programme would become more targeted. He said the ambassadors were due to launch two campaigns: 'People', which will focus on attracting new entrants to the sector, and 'Growth and Scale', which will aim to take social enterprise to the next level.
Sam Conniff, an ambassador and co-founder of youth marketing enterprise Livity, said the "feisty" group had to focus on agreeing goals.
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Robert Ashton, 25 June 2008, 08:58
No one can really be surprised by this story. Social entrepreneurship is an attitude, a movement, a new way of life, a potential for liberation from statutory (funder) control.It's not something any amount of Government investment can 'make happen'. It's something Government investment should 'allow to happen'.
It needs hands off, not hands on support. Risk taking at a local level, a loosening of the rules and wider recognition of what's already happening.
Robert Ashton
www.robertashton.co.uk
[Report this post]
Brian Craven, 25 June 2008, 09:21
Someone needs to decide (1) WHY we're doing Social Enterprise & (2) What UNIQUE features Social Enteprise has got to offer!The entire SE agenda is ill defined, in practice confused, and - in as much as it has been taken over as a Government sponsored initiative - beggared by doubts about the future.
One wonders if the Rowntrees, Salts, and Booths ever considered themselves "Social Entrepreneurs".
They saw needs and used their considerable, personal business and social skills to tackle the needs!
What we really need is a HMG humble enough to acknowledge that it doesn't have all the answers. There's no panacea for Public Sector ills, perhaps least of all HMG backed "Social Enterprise".
[Report this post]
David Floyd, 27 June 2008, 18:53
Well, it's never been entirely clear what the primary aim of the scheme is.Are the Ambassadors meant to be promoting social enterprise or is the scheme meant to promote the Ambassadors and their work, thereby making people aware of social enterprise as a result?
It's probably a fairly vague combination of the two but some of the Ambassadors are relatively young people running extremely small businesses and it's difficult to expect them to do promotional work for the sector on top of their busy day jobs unless they're actually getting some clear benefit from it.
[Report this post]
Jim Brown, 1 July 2008, 13:36
What cogent comments. Social enterprise could have been a social movement, but it was hijacked by government. The social enterprise ambassadors should all resign, as a matter of principle, and just get on with being themselves.[Report this post]