Charles

"The "social business" is quite simply a for-profit entity focused on a social mission

its main difference from other businesses being that its main aim is not to maximize financial return for shareholders, but to achieve social goals. Financing and scaling opportunities can be greater for businesses running on this model, because they can more readily take on debt and equity."

The assumption built in here is of essentially of a genetically modified conventional Corporation or "Joint Stock Limited Liability Company" as we call it on this side of the pond.

I think that the emeregence of LLC's in the US and LLP's in the UK and elsewhere actually make the Corporation redundant.

They open up the way to what I call a "Capital Partnership" which is essentially a very simple production sharing or revenue sharing framework with general application.

This recent article of mine hopefully sets it out reasonably well

http://www.metamute.org/en/beyond_public_and_private

Within such frameworks there is no "profit" and no "loss" merely the ceration and exchange of value in all its many forms - conventional debt-based money quite possibly not being one of them.

Best Regards

Chris Cook

Thanks, Chris. I was hoping you might respond, and it's good to have the URL and be able to read your paper. Which I must now do.

Hi Charles

Just got this new article published by the Carnegie Council's policy innovations site, so I knowI'm on the right track....

http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/000085

Best Regards

Chris

Hi Charles, good to see you again.

After our last discussion on Social Edge I've come across another resource who pointed me to Social Enterprise Ontario which you can see at http://www.socialenterpriseontario.ca/

I was introduced to this by a man named Sidney Hargro, of Columbus, Ohio. He writes a blog focused on "issues of our world community and the people whose innovative ideas will bring about sustainable solutions for the good of all." I was honored to have him interview me for his last article. http://www.innovate2uplift.net/2009/02/raisin-the-buzz-at-the-table-with-dan-bassill/

His blog and the links he point to seem to be another resource for the topics being discussed here.

Hello again, Daniel!

That's excellent. I have some other moves in the works concerning wider group conversations, and will be in touch.

Meanwhile, thanks again, and keep up the good work!

Hi to you all.

After nearly 5 years of trials, errors and correction, we now have what we can refer to as a hybrid incorporating both a social business, an ngo and a traditional business. Gosh this ounds complicated, but is not.

Let me share with you one of the projects that will shoecase just what I mean.

The project: Adopt-a-Pothole

Impact areas: people, communities, road infrastructure. goverment, road users, the environment, businesses.

Enabling factor: new innovation in cold asphalt (reduces carbon emissions and barriers to entry into the road maintenance field, speeds up road maintenance especially repair of potholes and utility cuts, reduces accidents and damages to vehicles and people, etc)

The mix:

The Empowerment Gateway Foundation engaeges with goverment, local communities and businesses and facilitates the creation of a multistakeholder body.

The Empowerment Gateway South Africa (a for profit owed 75% by non-profits - 2 Empowerment Gateway foundations) manages the process, which includes the setting up of a 100% South African foundation owned cold asphalt batching and manufacturing plant; the recruiment, selection and training of approximately 30000 people nationally over 2 years and job creation via cooperatives or micro business structures for +- 20 000 individuals employed in thier own businesses earning between R 2500 to R 7500 per month on an ongoing basis. In the process the 20 000 people will participate in a virtual incubation programme supported by class-room and on site training, and be competent to manage their own samall businesses.

Then, we looked and saw that there was no much in the support of practical advocacy, so we created another foundation inititiave the Empowerment Gateway SME Union, an advocacy, support and development programme,etc. Again this project is a foundation initiative but is managed via the for-profit entity.

Subsidies are available from the foundation for the appropriate and qualifying benefitiaries, in addition we also use a bartering system, etc.

If you want to know more drop me a mail requesting our synopsis and findings from 2004-2008 and the way forward in 2009 by emailing laurinda.seabra @ empowerment-gateway.com

The project uses multiple models rather than just a straight forward silo business model. So what would you call it?

Have a great day Laurinda CEO Empowerment Gateway Group

I am presently trying to reengineer the agricultural industry in the Department of Cordoba Colombia so that the poorest people can dramatically increase their income. In order to do this I am introducing four new ideas: 1) Campesinos can grow farm animals 25% faster using moringa. The campesinos also can dramatically improve their health by eating moringa leaves and moringa pods 2) Campesinos should have 20 different types of tropical fruit and nut trees on their land for subsqueent sale. 3) Campesinos should use micro irrigation to entend their growing season for high value food commodities 4) Campesinos should grow 50 chickens instead of 5 in their backyard poultry farms In general, most social entrepreneurs do not fully analyze the work required before starting a project and don't obtain the needed supplies for starting a project in remote rural areas. The work required is as follows Preliminary Analysis • Assessment of Product’s Capability • Assessment of Market Strategy Formulation • Definition of Objectives • Definition of Priorities • Determination of Alternative Approaches • Selection of Preferred Approach Formulation of Development Plan • Identification of Customers • Identification of Area to Sell Product • Identification of Constraints • Definition of Product • Analysis of Costs • Definition of Required Actions • Sequence of Required Actions • Schedule Establishment of Support Required • Definition of Required Resources • Acquisition of Required Resources • Organization of Human and Material Resources • Acquisition of Training Ensuring Acceptable Levels of Quality and Supply • Selection of Technology • Site Selection • Variety Selection • Feed Selection • Pest and Disease Control Practices • Water Use • Determining When to Sell Maintaining Quality • Quality Control Procedures • Maintaining Standards • Packaging Procedures • Training Workers on Use of Technology Capturing a Market • Obtaining and Using Market Data (Pricing Analysis) • Making Use of Market Intelligence • Selection of Target Markets • Identification of Middleman • Negotiating the Best Deal Optimal transport • Selection of Means of Transport • Packing for Transport • Keeping Quality Control During Transport Maximization of Income, Profits, and Production of Product • Analysis of Costs • Analysis of Returns • Analysis of Business Operations This business model was used successfully many years ago to help Chile in create their fruit industry

My thanks to you both for contributions that get into a little more detail as to what's needed. As you both eloquently demonstrate, there is quite a distance between idea and execution. Mike Sellers, one time lead designer for the Sims Online game, put it in games terms this way:

An idea is not a design, a design is not a demo, a demo is not a program, a program is not a product, a product is not a business, a business is not profits, and profits alone are not happiness.

Between an idea and its full unfolding there has to be a tree's worth of branching options, with workable decisions made at every step along the way.

Thanks again, and our best wishes to you both.

I mentioned this yesterday, but wanted to dig up a web site.

I've just finished reading this report, titled "Creativity, Social Benefit and Job Creation in Ontario, written by Andrea Baldwin. The web site is: www.socialinnovatihttp://www.socialinnovation.ca/blog/creativity-social-benefit-job-creation-ontario-report

I think it offers lots of good ideas and a new network of connections as well.

Dan

Greetings all. We meet again.

• What's missing in today's business models?

Conscience, essentially. Conventional capitalism being about numbers and profit first rather than people. You’ll find this in the words of founder Terry Hallman from an interview he gave after we launched in the UK.

http://www.iccrimea.org/scholarly/economicdev.html

• What business model for social impact does your organization use?

In the UK we operate as a profit for purpose business, whereas in Eastern Europe, we engage in activism and create strategy plans for microeconomic development with the aim of leveraging investment for full cost recovery with social benefit.

• What innovations are involved in this approach?

Lobbying for development aid funding to be used as investment capital. The regions targeted are often those of potential conflict and the approach is advocacy for soft power.

• How has it turned out in terms of both short and long term success?

We’re very much off-radar as a social enterprise and as a small business limited in what we can invest, though we’ve made deep impact in a couple of instances.

• Are others adopting your model?

I believe so. The UK Community Interest Company model bears a close resemblance to P-CED and B-Corps seem to have adopted something similar. Bill Gates’ perception of Creative Capitalism is very much along the lines of what we’ve been doing for some years now. Otherwise, in the last few months President Sarkozy of France, Tony Blair, David Cameron and Richard Branson have all become vocal about this modified form of capitalism described in the link above. .

• What do you perceive to be its drawbacks?

Funding was impossible in the past, though more recent awareness of social business may remove that obstacle. One may encounter a lot of hostility in appearing to be a business attempting to exploit a social cause for profit. Working where organized crime is the main ‘competition’ makes us vulnerable to smear attacks.

• What are your stories of success?

Before my involvement, pioneering moral collateral micro-credit in Russia by sourcing the Tomsk initiative. With $6 million invested, 10,000 businesses were created and more than 95% survived more than a year with investment returned to US taxpayers. Since 2004 without doubt, the creation of a ‘Marshall Plan’ strategy which weighed the cost of investing in childcare reform, social enterprise, microfinance and rural broadband against the ongoing cost of occupation in Iraq.

US Gov have since launched a new USAID foundation to fund sustainable community enterprise. 2 recommendations in childcare reform have become Ukraine government policy an a third the concept of “Homes for all Children” will be pioneered in the Kharkiv oblast, where the paper was written and delivered to government channels.

• And just as importantly, maybe more so, what are your stories of failure?

1. months invested in a community broadband proposal in the UK which was sunk by being unable to find funding and the misunderstanding of social business objectives which had our founder blocked as a visitor to the UK.

Some (most?) social entrepreneurs do not show a commitment to the project they are proposing. Your business plan should show how much money you have invested in the project you are proposing. For example, if you are proposing a micro-lending project and currently earn $50,000, have you invested at least $20,000 of your personnel funds in the project? The private investors I work with would consider me a "thief of the poor" if I did not show a large personal investment in the project I was proposing and would politely show me the door. These private funding sources took risks and had a single minded commitment when they earned their money. They expect the same commitment from the people whose project they are funding. Good intentions are not nearly enough.

Paul

I beg to disagree with you. In fact it has been our findings that 90% of Social Entrepreneurs do have some form of a business plan, (maybe not as you would like to see as it may not meet the criteria of standard business plans) and in addition most have sunken their live savings into their ideas, and are totally committed to their vision.

Looking at your post it appears that you may have confused social entrepreneurs with the traditional “NGO” type founders. I suggest that you research social entrepreneurs more in depth; it shouldn’t be difficult as our numbers are small, but our small group is growing steadily.

“The traditional Business Plan

1. First, lets determine what is the business plan. Are we talking about the traditional thought process endorsed by the financial world? (They are not a very good role model, if one looks at the mess that exists currently that resulted from their actions tat were fuelled by greed and power)
2. Or are we talking about methodologies to record our thoughts, research, and action plans?

Lending and borrowings:

1. Again, it appears that you are viewing this process from a traditional perspective. There is a desperate need to get out of the box, and for investors, funder’s and other parties to look at the funding side differently.
2. First question that one needs to ask, is WHY and WHAT do you as an investor want? Highest ROI? Or Highest SROI? (Social return on investment?)
3. Then we need to evaluate what is the VALUE EXCHANGE that will take place should you partner with a social entrepreneur. Money is but one small criteria, the next phase is do you have the skills to go at it alone (i.e. you do not need an SE then, do you have the time? … Do you have the passion? … Do you have the ability?
4. Looking at your post, us at EG, had you been a prospective funder we would walk away from you, because by your post I don’t see a value exchange proposition. I see, WHATS IN IT FOR ME. I may be wrong, one post is not sufficient to make an informed decision, but as I said before in other posts I tend to trust my instincts

The way we work, is what is the value exchange that will take place? Does the value exchange meet our vision and goals and is framed within an ethical process? What do you bring to the table (we don’t just look at money … if we did we would be sitting with fat bank accounts) but more importantly, how will your participation assist us in making our vision true, and is our vision similar?

You also stated that if you are looking at raising $50000, you should have invested $20000 of your own money. My question is why? … Now let me share my own experience:

If I work for an organisation I earn in excess of R1.5 million per annum (R 150000/R200000 per month), for an 8hour, 5 days per week. At EG, I have carried my personal and the organisational costs and I earned a stipend of R 2500 per month. Now my own in-kind contribution to the project equals over R1 million per annum (now multiply that by 5 years research and development and by 2 individuals that have been operating in that manner. This means that our in-kind contributions do in fact amount to R10million in loss of income.

As a potential funder what is the typical response? That these are sunk costs and it does not count … (because you do not have a piece of paper that says you have been paid X fees/salary, etc)

Now my story is typical of any social entrepreneur, and YES if it were not the GOOD intentions of social entrepreneurs and other social activists our world would be in an even bigger mess than it is currently. But when we are confronted with the traditional close thinking displayed by your response, we tend to understand why we plod on and on …

Whats the major challenge that SE's face? Close thinking and outdated business and organisational models that fail to address the REAL needs of todays world population.

Laurinda Seabra Empowerment Gateway Group (Portugal and South Africa)

Laurinda,

It just struck me that we are doing the same thing with different names. We operate in the UK as a "profit for purpose" business, which I guess is what you mean by 4th Sector?

I can relate that both to earned income and the knowledge worker contribution which goes toward advocacy. So, like your organisation P-CED contributes with its own resources at a far greater proportion of resources than the typical philanthropic funder.

I don't think many people, even those involved with SE actually "get it" when it comes to understanding this kind of model. hence what I refer to in my earlier post about being vulnerable.

Jeff

Good intentions are a start. I agree with Chris, that the revolution has begun with the networked partnership-based enterprise model. Like with the Web's peer-to-peer finance, in this framework it's the core capabilities of community and collaboration that has sparked the revolution -along with other revolutionaries like Laurinda,Jeff and others with their models.

German philosopher Kant believed revolution was necessary for the advancement of humankind as a natural step in the realization of a higher ethical foundation for society and expose what you say Charles that " profits alone are not happiness."

I think the whole business plan game will change as new innovations are unleashed. And once the hadron collider (the big bang machine) is back up and running accelerating energy particles to uncover the higgs boson- to challenge our understanding of the nature of reality- a new way of seeing will emerge smashing old silo business models because people will understand that what we've been ingrained to believe, just might not be so.

Check the time frame when the LHC

in search of the Higgs boson a.k.a. the "God particle" -- was operational: September 10-19 2008. The world economy tanked. The US was within three hours of total economic collapse on the 18th.

Just saying. It's one of favorite anecdotes :)

Laurinda I am sorry you disagree with me. I feel that everyone likes to feel that they have good intentions and I have obviously hurt your feelings by saying that that was not enough. I feel as a social entrepreneur you need to be effective. I know I have been effective and will continue to be effective in Colombia and other countries in which I work. It is very easy for me to get funding. I don't need to worry about that aspect. I don't think you understand the value of moringa, micro-irrigation, modern backyard poultry farming, and access to seeds from a wide variety of tropical fruit trees to the poorest people of rural Colombia. I doubt whether that is in your business model. I also doubt if you have ever worked where your life was in danger from Castro guerillas (in the past) as well as the FARC and Venezuelan guerillas. I doubt if this is in your business model. I hope you will solve the world's problems. I will solve the problems of rural Colombia, Malawi, etc.

Paul, I am still not agreeing with you, and you have not hurt my feelings at all.

I agree that as an "ENTREPRENEUR" wether social or otherwise you HAVE to be effective in what you do, but I still beleive that the concept of "value exchange" is not considered sufficiently by all.

If I have dedicated my life to a project (including my own available resources)and I approach anyone for fund matching, then the total investment that I have inputed into the project should be considered. I.e. Money, time, knowledge, skills and competencies to get it to a working model.

Like you, our model works, is effective and of high and visible impact ... we get the results that we had forecasted. And like you, we don't have a problem raising money, our problem is deciding from which people are we prepared to accept money.

I have not only worked where my life was at danger (I am in Africa) I was born in Africa. I have seen the desvatation of war in Angola, Mocambique, DRC and lately in Zimbabwe ... and ... I predict that the next hot spot will be South Africa (crime and corruption are rampant, intolerance and a corrupted goverment is affecting, and threatnening the lives of the people we want to see empowered, especially women and chrildren)

I also understand the value of your programme very well, and it is a good programme. (That was never in doubt) what I have a problem is about your statement that "good intentions alone are not enough)

Regards

Laurinda

Paul, I disagree with your assertions that

1) personal cash is required to undertake a social enterprise

2) in-kind contributions of time, education, and hopefully therefore knowledge, are to be dismissed without a personal cash stake in the effort

3) you face unusual dangers in your work, implying that no one else does or they don't matter if they didn't put personal cash into their project

Let's start with point 3 first. Many, if not most, SE efforts are needed to start with due to corruption. I.e., government officials using their positions for personal gain and profit = corruption. Government officials are: government. They have access to means (and weaponry) to enforce who does what and who does not. That is not unique to the Latin America sphere where you work. Those who try anyway are taking their lives in their hands, with little or no back-up if push comes to shove, which it normally does in corrupt environments. (Always, in my experience in the former USSR.) Such officials are not in the business of helping their people. They ARE in the business of looting resources, regardless of what happens to their citizens. Hence the need for social enterprise. In which case, you're correct insofar as good intentions not being enough. Nerves of steel are required, and there is no price for that. Someone either has them, or they don't. Even nerves of steel can fray quickly in the face of full-force government onslaught versus anyone who might want to change anything whatsoever without govt. approval.

Personal cash is certainly helpful in the start phase where someone is going in to see what needs doing and what can be done. That's because there is rarely if ever ANY cash resources to go in to do that to start with. After that, scaling up to do something is going to require a hundred times more than a measly $20K in personal cash.

At that point, it is essential to explain one's case to various funding sources, and ake a case to proceed in a way that will become sustainable even in the face of deranged government officialdom. Without the sustainability part, it's just another aid program that is normally doomed to shrivel up and die on the vine without ongoing financing.

The depth of knowledge, education, and personal time committed

in-kind contributions, which you apparently dismiss -- turn out the be the difference between good intentions and something that actually works as a social enterprise instead of just another aid program. What to do when analysis shows that $2 million is required and one has only $20K to work with? Either limit to a lifetime of serial micro-micro projects that one can afford with personal cash, or, make a compelling case for larger investment -- not aid, investment -- to do most or all of those similar projects at once.

Personal cash is all fine and good, but most social entrepreneurs are so heavily invested in education and knowledge to back up their good intentions that their own personal cash is nothing compared to the real scale of needs at hand.

In response to the question of why one should invest $20,000 of their own money. With $20,000 you can buy 400,000 Moringa seeds and distribute them to 100,000 families in tropical areas. This new technology will improve the lives of up to 400,000 people in these areas. See the presentation at the following website for more information

http://www.treesforlife.org/our-work/our-initiatives/moringa/moringa-tree

Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera http://www.tfljournal.org/staticpages/index.php?page=call-for-studies-cattle-fodder

This summer I am a teacher at an entrepreneurial camp for youth from a disadvantaged community. I am wondering what to say, how do we get beyond, “you are in business = profits”.

By enlarge when I interviewed entrepreneurs they are in business to have control of their time/future and work according to their preferences and values. What I learned from them is that the clearer your direction and purpose become the more successful you will be. I guess I will have to find a youth friendly way to say, what is your purpose for starting a business or being in business?

It is likely that none of the youth will have money in their pocket to start a business. So I will take their intentions as their principal investment. If their actions show commitment to starting a business, then it is as good a gold for me. Hopefully, in this small crowd I will find one or two individuals that say “I want to be in business to make my community better!” apart from helping the youth, I am also investing my time to find such individuals and help them succeed.

What I am likely to tell them is what Robert; a sign company owner and past boss told me “every plan needs time and money”. Sometimes you have more time than money. You can turn that time into social capital, which can attract the money you need. You manage your time and the clearer you are about your purpose, the more effective you will be. Certainly, if you were born without a silver spoon, it will take more persistence and creativity to find ways to obtain the needed cash.

Investment cash.

Also, some manner of ethics for existing large players to "borrow" work from field pioneers and use it as though they came up with it.

So: cash, and ethics.

That is all.

Charles, thank you for hosting this discussion. It is interesting that for the most part the focus seems on the idea of businesses becoming organizations and those forms being LLC or other private entities. I think one form that more entrepreneurs could consider more often are cooperatives, as they provide opportunity for being mutually invested. A feature that is important to creating change in our communities.

I also find the pursuit of defining social enterprise more precisely interesting. I have chosen to talk about social enterprise as running your business in a life giving way, socially, economically and environmentally. I don’t attempt to define what life giving is, I just hope that people can explore and imagine what that means to them.

I know it is idealistic and probably runs counter to human nature. However, I have hope that more people than we can imagine, would like to explore what running a business in a life giving way means to them.

Just to let you know (hat tip to Victor) that we're getting mentions on Twitter...

Spread the word

keep up the tweets!

Dan, thanks for the links to social enterprise in Ontario, Canada. Good discussion material. I like the entrepreneurial center model and the report is a thoughtful view of SE. It is also an interesting way to present a framework for SE. Here is the link to report again for those interested.

http://martinprosperity.org/media/pdfs/Creativity_Social_Benefit_and_Job_Creation-A_Baldwin.pdf

March 2009 Trip Report for the Mas Dinero Project for Improving the Lives of Poor People in Cordoba, Colombia (Note that I did not encounter any SEs, foreign Government officials, or NGOs while I was there last week)

Tuesday – March 17 – I arrived in Monteria Cordoba and spoke with the Bishop of Monteria. He was enthusiastic about my ideas and wanted me to talk with his technical staff when they returned on Thursday. He suggested that I go with him to Los Cordobas on Thursday when he celebrating mass in Los Cordobas. He immediately recognized the value of each of the four ideas (1) Growing moringa for use by humans as well as for animal fodder, 2) Growing tropical fruit trees, 3) Growing other high value food commodities such as Hawaiian Sweet Corn with the help of micro irrigation (when available in Colombia), and 4) Starting backyard poultry farms. He noted that there was high unemployment in the Department of Cordoba.

I then visited the Department of Cordoba’s Secretary of Economics and AgroIndustry who was very interested in my ideas. She will try growing moringa on her ranch and will investigate the use of moringa more with her staff.

Wednesday March 18 – I visited the Agricultural Engineers at the University of Cordoba, and in particular who has taught 248 farmers in the Municipal of Los Cordobas improved methods for agriculture. He showed me a presentation of what he was doing in Los Cordobas (I believe he has led about 10 projects). He was familiar with moringa from the Trees for Life website but did not have any seeds (I gave him 1000 seeds for a demonstration at the University). I told him about the ECHOtech.org and moringanews.org websites and gave him hard copies of the appropriate materials in Spanish (he can read some English). He said that he would be visiting Los Cordobas the following week and would help the farmers plant moringa and the 30 different fruit tree seeds that I brought from ECHO and Banana Tree. He was particularly proud of the improved white yams they had grown and showed me an example. He felt that the University should start a backyard poultry demonstration and will follow up on my ideas.

Earlier, another professor showed me the experimental farm at the University of Cordoba. The farm was excellent. They have projects testing different varieties of corn, beans, eggplants, and mango. They were particularly interested in the sweet corn seeds supplied by ECHO, the availability of micro irrigation systems from IDE, and the supermoneymaker pumps from Kickstart. I believe they have about 9 agricultural professors at the University each of whom has projects in one of nine municipios. They have an irrigation system, but it was broken. They have 3 or 4 buildings for agricultural engineering and probably have about 100 students in this field.

I then visited the civil engineers at the University Pontificia Bolivariana. We talked about the prospect of building micro irrigation systems and pumps. They will follow up.

Thursday March 19 – I met the bishop and his technical staff. They have two major social programs, and I met the leaders of each program. We then went to Los Cordobas where we met with the mayor and about eight priests and nuns from the municipios of Los Cordobas, Apartado, Puerto Escondito, and Canalette. The bishop blessed a small bridge and several new buildings that had been built since he was last there. He also celebrated a mass. I gave the mayor and the priest from Los Cordobas some sports equipment and about 75 Obama photo buttons for distribution to the people who remembered me from when I was there 45 years ago (they have to be at least 55 years old now). The mayor, who was about 35 years old, said she was 65 so I gave her a Michelle Obama pin. She was thrilled as were the others who received an Obama pin. The priests and nuns wished they were older. I also gave the mayor and priest the fruit tree seeds and 1000 more moringa seeds for use in Los Cordobas, along with a lot of literature in Spanish on the use of moringa. The mayor will seek help from the University of Cordoba in growing the different seeds. She also agreed about the need for improved backyard poultry farming.

Los Cordobas has changed since I was last there. There is now an asphalt road to Los Cordobas, Canalette, Puerto Escondito, and Apartado (earlier there only was a dirt road that could be impassable when it rained). There is also a large cell phone tower, and half of the houses are of cinder block. When I was there 45 years ago, there were no cinder block houses, and most of the houses had thatched roofs instead of tin. There now is electricity during the day instead of only at night. There appears to be about 300 primary and secondary grade students (when I was there previously there was only about 25 students and most did not go beyond the third grade). There are also some paved streets and community centers. Many of the people who I had known and worked with have died. The prevalent periods of violence appear to have ended, and there does not seem to be any foreign terrorists, FARC, or drug producers in the area. In the mid-1960s, Los Cordobas was known to be a center for MRL and communist activity, and there had been a Castro guerilla until the mayor ran him out of the area. About 10 years before I arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching rural community development, all of the town’s houses had been burnt to the ground.

Friday March 20 – I asked a street person to give a few moringa seeds to his friends in a poor neighborhood in Monteria and gave him 5 copies of a small presentation on moringa. He returned in about four hours, and said that the seeds had been distributed. I gave Obama buttons to him and his wife. He appeared to be intelligent but devastated by a lack of opportunity.

Many people in Monteria are unemployed especially at this time of year, the end of the dry season (The rainy season starts in April-May and goes to November-December). About 400,000 people live in Monteria and about 3000?? people live in Los Cordobas. There are 2500 taxis in Monteria. The bishop told me that there is severe unemployment everywhere. There appears to be more cars and fewer horses than before. The number of women in important government positions appears to be great.

Later - I expect to receive photos and presentations of successful agricultural projects in Cordoba by the University, Government, and Catholic Church personnel. They have a large number of agricultural projects to help the poor people of Cordoba. The importance of moringa for animal feed as well as for human consumption cannot be underestimated. The introduction of low cost micro irrigation systems and a variety of fruit trees will dramatically improve the lives of the poorest people in the region. The University of Cordoba has enough students to try all the ideas suggested at the ECHO website. The people are really interested in agricultural engineering because they can see it as a way to improve their lives. Inexpensive sports equipment is important for poor people because it can help make their lives more enjoyable.

We're a group of social enterprises, loosely based on San Francisco-based Delancey Street Foundation (www.delanceystreetfoundation.org). All profits of our for-profit businesses go back to the project which includes personal development programs for each beneficiary.

Right now, for reasons of flexibility and simplicity, we are registered as a corporation. For the price of flexibility, the corporation model does not have the same tax and other incentives as non-profit organizations.

Bureaucracy in the Philippines is a real problem. Here, social enterprises are almost forced into being corporations for simplicity purposes. What some do here is set up a separate non-profit entity tied up with the corporation. But putting up a nonprofit organization is a feat in itself. Corruption in the country has found its way into misusing the nonprofit model, and so the government was forced to place stringent and many times absurd policies when setting up a nonprofit venture.

What we hope for is a way for our government to recognize organizations such as ours

organizations that are for-profit but non-stock and with non-profit goals. Are there existing policies in developed countries that we can lobby for here in the Philippines in terms of identifying social enterprises and incentives for such?

Hi:

Have you looke at Chris Cook's article at the top of this event? He is suggesting one of a variety of approaches that combine profit structure with non-profit-type motivation (to coin a phrase). You might also want to take a look at our event, A New Role for Government, to get some ideas for other possibilities:

http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/responsibility/public-innovators

Thanks, Charles. I just read Chris Cook's article and it's very enlightening. I'll definitely look into trying to adapt the ideas into our organization.

I'll also read the discussion on public innovators.

Thanks again!

The way these boards are set up, new posts don't always show up at the bottom of the page - sometimes they appear in the middle of a sequence of posts one has already read, and can only too easily be missed.

So I want to repost a link that Chris Cook posted yesterday:

http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/000085

A flurry of activity and then the blog goes silent! Anyway, I'd like to add my bit to the discussion and see what comments the group might have.

I have tried a number of different models over the past thirty years and have decided that keeping it simple is best for me. Here's my structure. All entities are 'for-profit' enterprises with an empowerment element and the principles that guide the investment strategy;

1. Basic Structure with minimum percentage allocation
* 10% legacy share (what my kids get to keep later on)
* 10% employee trust for the benefit of all current employees.
* 10% national development fund.
* 70% for sale to external shareholders, employees or national development fund

And the following principles;
* Community contribution - all players commit to a minimum five hours per month to an approved community initiative (shareholders, employees, the lot)
* Knowledge leverage - apprentice programs and community training, coaching etc.
* Investment royalty of 2% of turnover - managed by the national development fund (the entrepreneur still owns the contribution but the national investment fund controls it)
* Accountable management - monthly management accounts and independent oversight.
* Duplication - franchising the systems and the ownership structure but keeping entry low.

I've included all the above in various businesses but this is the first time I have created such a definite structure and set of principles. I am a creator profile - good at starting things but terrible at finishing - so the idea is to hand control of the businesses to professional managers and move on to the next project.

I just finished Half Time by Bob Buford, and if young people are following his model they too will focus on making money (by whatever means are possible) during the first half of their life and they will shift and become "significant" when they've made their millions. I think we all know that model doesn't work, but it is certainly being published everywhere.

A business has be to be designed from the get-go as a social entrepreneurship with a social mission other than creating "personal wealth."

We also need to move from our exclusivity mindset that is based on "rugged individualism" and a lone wolf mentality to an inclusive, one-village "dove" mindset. We have to, as some point realize that the missing voices in politics are WOMEN. This patriarchy thing isn't working and the models created by men don't work very well either.

Rosanne Ferreri-Feske, CEO The New US Woman, www.thenewuswoman.com