Keely Stevenson - Mar 28, 2004 5:58 am (#1 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Hello everyone! I arrived in Oxford, England a few days ago from California. It is such a magical city, and I have enjoyed soaking up the history and wandering the streets lined with buildings dating back to 1040.

As many of you know, I am here for the first annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, taking place from March 29th to 31st at the Said Business School, Oxford University. The Forum launches the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and brings together some of the most creative agents of social change who have invented new models that result in sustainable solutions to social problems. I met up with the Said Business School team (Alex, Maike, Kathryn, Brook, Sally, and others) who have been creatively sculpting the Forum plan into a brilliant work of art. So far, all signs for a successful conference are evident. I'm looking forward to connecting with the 450 delegates and speakers.

The Forum has a Social Edge Internet Centre where I will logon daily to share conference highlights with you here in this blog. I will also be giving in-person demonstrations of Social Edge to new community members and encouraging our friends and colleagues here to post messages to you in the blog. Keep your eyes peeled for great things ahead!

Cheers

Attachments:

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Caroline Hartnell - Mar 29, 2004 1:47 pm (#2 Total: 52)
Alliance Magazine


Greetings from Oxford and the Skoll World Social Forum.

When different people from different places all seem to be saying the same thing, do you conclude (a) what's new? these guys have barely one idea between them and none of them seem to have the slightest idea what the others are thinking or doing or (b) the time really has come for this idea, people all over the world are coming up with it.

When Muhammud Yunus called for a stock market for social business enterprises, the e-Bay of the social enterprise sector - and all the accompanying things like screening and rating systems - in his keynote address in the opening session of the Skoll World Forum, he was not suggesting anything that hasn't been suggested before. The Geneva-based Schwab Foundation, whose manager Pamela Hartigan was in the audience, is just one of the organizations that has actually tried to launch this idea - though so far without visible success.

The time clearly has come for this idea. There is a strong belief that there are lots of people 'out there' with money that they want to invest in social ventures but they don't know where to put it. Initiatives like GlobalGiving exist to address this perceived state of affairs.

If this is an idea whose time is right, how can it be realized? How can we go beyond lots of different people putting it forward? All heads needed to crack this one.

Terry Nagel - Mar 29, 2004 4:56 pm (#3 Total: 52)
Skoll Foundation


A stock market for social business enterprises? How would that work?

MMcCaslin - Mar 29, 2004 5:09 pm (#4 Total: 52)


Just a note to tell you that it is so very wonderful the work you are all doing. Glad to be a part of something so important. Miss you here! Hope the event is a great success.

Keely Stevenson - Mar 30, 2004 1:58 am (#5 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Hi Terry,
Good Question: The social good stock market is something a lot of people were talking about last night. Check out Jed Emerson's stock market framework at the link I pasted below.
http://www.redf.org/download/boxset/REDF_Vol2_9.pdf

Prof Yunus delivered a call to action for us to start small in creating metrics and a system of valuing businesses or institutional socio-economic value. He stated that Said's Skoll Centre on Social Entrepreneurship has great opportunity to be a force in realizing this.

More soon!

Charlie O'Malley - Mar 30, 2004 3:15 am (#6 Total: 52)
P3 Capital


Great people - and great speakers. But there needs to be more of a balance between speakers and networking. The potential of getting all of these people together is enormous - and I think the focus of the event should be on how to best co-create value from such a gathering.

Emrys - Mar 30, 2004 4:06 am (#7 Total: 52)
Communityspeak


Fantastic people with incredible energy and vision from all over the world... this is an event that seems to signpost towards the practice and vision of what social entrepeneurship as a force for positive social change is and can be...

Meeting people setting up small enterprise hub to incubate social enterprises, discussions on the potential for media, HIV, Micro-credit and enterprise to act as a catalyst for for conflict resolution... the possibility of sparking across the combustability gap that this conference offers is exciting and promising....

Perhaps the second round of the Forum could focus on how these sparks have developed, examine in a participatory and interactive manner the expertise, ideas and visions of the core cadre of social entrepeneurs gathered here...

Keely Stevenson - Mar 30, 2004 5:15 am (#8 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


It’s quite an honor to have all these changemakers in one place. So far, I have met people from the US, UK, Ireland, Poland, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Australia, India and China. I think we have representatives from every continent (well, maybe not Antarctica .

Quite fittingly, the Forum was launched yesterday in the Nelson Mandela Lecture Hall at Said Business School by Professor Anthony Hopwood who delivered a warm welcome. He was followed by a keynote address by His Royal Highness Prince Charles, who joined us via video conference. Evidently, Prince Charles is very much interested in social entrepreneurship, stating, “(social enterprise) is now far more widely recognized, and we need to learn from the lessons of what can be done to promote social enterprise...” He touched on the government's role in social enterprise development and his hopes for the Skoll Centre.

Next, Jeff Skoll gave the audience a giggle as he opened up with a joke about how he could get used to having the Prince warm up the audience before he speaks. He then humbly delivered a very inspiring speech about the practical dreamers who have the talent and vision to change the world. What resonated in my mind was the statement, “Social entrepreneurship is the democratisation of power.” Very powerful. Jeff gave examples of Professor Yunus and Martin Fisher’s revolutionary and evolutionary approaches to social entrepreneurship, stating, “these people haven’t just changed lives, they’ve saved them…. and they are people like you.”Committed to John Gardner's advice (bet on good people doing good things), Jeff called to the audience, “Social Entrepreneurs, this is our time!” Jeff ended his speech with, “Enjoy conference, Oxford and most of all, each other.” In this truly remarkable city, the beauty really resides in the people here today who have contributed their entire lifeforce to creating positive change in our world.

Where can you find the full text of Skoll's speech? Click here: http://www.skollfoundation.org/about/speech/033004.asp

Keely Stevenson - Mar 30, 2004 5:21 am (#9 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Many of the World Forum speakers have written articles or been active in discussions on Social Edge. I have listed these below in case you are interested in connecting with them at some point.

Jeff Skoll, Founder and Chairman of the Skoll Foundation On The Edge @ “Movies That Matter ”
Keely Stevenson, "Movies that make a difference" #1, 5 Nov 2003 6:39 pm

David Bornstein, Author of “How to Change the World” On The Edge @ his article “Social Entrepreneurs: A New Global Landscape”: http://skoll.socialedge.org/?293@@.1ad4b92d and Social Edge Book Club:
http://skoll.socialedge.org/bookclub/

J. Gregory Dees, Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke University On The Edge @ “Social Entrepreneurship is about Innovation and Impact, not Income”
redrider33584, "Social Entrepreneurship is About Innovation and Impact, Not Income" #1, 22 Sep 2003 6:30 am

Jed Emerson, Senior Fellow with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation On The Edge @ Blended Value Map online event (now in progress)
Jed Emerson, "Building Blended Value" #21, 25 Mar 2004 5:12 am

Kim Alter, Founder and Principal of Virtue Ventures On The Edge @ Blended Value Map online event
Jed Emerson, "Building Blended Value" #21, 25 Mar 2004 5:12 am

Pamela Hartigan, Managing Director of Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship On the Edge @ “What does it take to be a Social Entrepreneur”
Pamela Hartigan, "Welcome! How do you fit in the world of Social Entrepreneurs?" #209, 30 Sep 2003 4:23 am

Muhammad Yunus, Founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh On The Edge @ “What Does it Take to Be a Social Entrepreneur”
http://skoll.socialedge.org/?14@859.hHdXaXNmTWM.42@.1adaeb99

Sally Osberg, President & CEO Skoll Foundation On The Edge @ her article, “Trust: the Grease that Keeps the Flywheel of Positive Social Change Turning”
http://skoll.socialedge.org/?293@@.1ad4c705

Roshaneh Zafar, Kashf Foundation in Pakistan On The Edge @ “Growing to Scale”
Roshaneh, "Growing to Scale" #32, 2 Oct 2003 5:20 am

kohanson - Mar 30, 2004 5:51 am (#10 Total: 52)
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics


There are many different meanings of social entrepreneurship floating around the conference. Is it important to resolve the different meanings? Some would contend that there cannot be social entrepreneurship in a traditional for-profit organization. Can there? Some would contend that social entrepreneurship efforts must have a motive to recover some of their own revenues from their activity. Is this essential? Is there any risk to simply embracing all people of good will who are trying to do things through organizations? Kirk Hanson

Keely Stevenson - Mar 30, 2004 5:54 am (#11 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


The keynote address by Lester Salamon (Founding Director and Principal Research Scientist Institute for Policy Studies, John Hopkins University) was quite good. My notes are below.

He opened by describing the "Global Associational Revolution’ as the massive upsurge of civil society/social economy/social entreprneurship/nonprofit sector Something quite significant and extraordinary has gone on and has made up of a vast collection of institutions with some important commonalities.

What are the defining features/key characteristics of social sector? 1) Organizational Form 2) Private sector (not part of the governmental apparatus) 3) Nonprofit distributing (Yunus described as nonloss- they are not in existence for distributing profit.) 4) Self governing 5) Voluntary (acts of free choice of individuals)

Why has this global association revolution happened? Demand factor: 4 crisis 1) crisis of the welfare state, 2) crisis of development, 3) crisis of the environment, and 4) crisis of structural adjustment.

Supply factors: 2 revolutions 1) telecomunications revolution 2) rise of social entrepreneurs

The dynamism of charitable orgs is phenominal- it is exceeding growth rate of small business. This includes Not just a service sector- 2/3 service oriented, 1/3 expressive functions (culture, advocacy).

Roles of Nonprofit America: Service Role Advocacy role Expressive role Community building role Value guardian role

Sector not a substitute or government: Sources of Income- 53% of revenue of soc sector orgs is through fees (commercial income)35% Government 12% Philanthropy

Countries with largest third sector = gov’ts with largest pub sector support (state as fund raiser for 3rd sector).

Caroline Hartnell - Mar 30, 2004 6:41 am (#12 Total: 52)
Alliance Magazine


The basic idea is that a stock market for social business enterprise would work just like the ordinary stock market - at this minute I wish my understanding of that was better! So people with money they want to invest in social business would be able to check out the opportunities, invest their money, move it around, just like the ordinary business investor. The one thing that's really missing now is widely accepted rating systems for measuring the performance of social businesses. One initiative that aims to establish universal performance standards of this sort is ACCESS - visit www.accountability.org.uk to find out more.

Caroline Hartnell - Mar 30, 2004 6:42 am (#13 Total: 52)
Alliance Magazine


There's a lot of talk around about non-profits becoming more like 'business', more competititve, more entrepreneurial, using business models to enable them to 'scale up'.

Is it just any business model we're talking about here? Not many people seem to go beyond the rhetoric and ask this question. This is one of the issues Charles Leadbeater, founder of Demos and author of 'Social Entrepreneurship: Learning and Self Organisation' addressed at the Skoll Forum this morning. If you want to deliver services, maybe the answer is yes, standard business models will do. But if you're a social enterprise and want to create value by encouraging people to organize themselves, maybe not. It's important, said Leadbeater, that social enterprises shouldn't follow the wrong business models - and high-growth Silicon Valley-type models may be the wrong ones. Two examples he cited as more promising models are e-Bay and Linux, the open source software business, which he described as 'a collaborative, self-organizing mass innovation'.

A great presentation which opened up lots of questions - some of which I'm sure the new Skoll Centre will take up.

RobertAGrove - Mar 30, 2004 6:47 am (#14 Total: 52)


There are some obvious challenges to the idea of creating a market for SE, but if done, it will transform the NGO sector. Long term it will shift the thinking of how these NGO's are run and we could even see the market pressures that bring about mergers and aquisitions, as well as competition that leads to the death of "under performing" NGO's that have competion in their sector.

The question of valuations, at this point, seem a bit like the cart before the horse. I believe the real question is not valuations but how do we create these comapnies into a market that allows for fluid, exchangeable capital. One thought is that governments could create tax credits that can be exchanged by investors, but this carries all kinds of interesting challenges. There is also the arguement that there are already tax incentives for charitable donations so why create more? We will probably need to create new financial instruments to handle all this. And the emotional aspects of "donating" need to be taken into account in the development of these tools.

It's fun to discuss. We are a a moment in time where the very nature of "charitable giving" may see big changes.

Keely Stevenson - Mar 30, 2004 8:07 am (#15 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


The conference is quite intense, but at the break today, I had the opportunity to connect with several friends and colleagues from around the world. At one point, I closed my eyes and listened carefully to what was happening around me. I heard voices and murmurs about: informal education systems, child labour and trafficking, unlocking potential in women via aggressive political policies, microenterprise portfolios, new technologies in farming, blended value and, of course, the occasional comments about recent travel to Oxford.The diverse sounds made me think of an orchestra of instruments. Whether they know it or not, these changemakers are instruments playing together everyday around the world as the harmony of social change unfolds and melody environmental and economic change unrolls.

richardberesford - Mar 30, 2004 10:55 am (#16 Total: 52)
MicroAid


Oxford, Monday, March 29, 2004

Who has the Magic Wand?

“If you have a magic wand to solve the complex problems of equitable social development, send it to me” said Geoff Mulgan, Head of Policy at No 10 at the opening of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. “Bet on good people, doing good things” says Jeff Skoll, Skoll Foundation. “We need action not rhetoric” Professor Anthony Hopwood, Saïd Business School.

Who has the magic wand and who are the people who should do good things? The answer is of course the families in disadvantaged communities all over the world.

How well Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank illustrated that the very poorest can become magicians, transforming beggars into a door-to-door sales force. As if by magic, the great possibility inside us all appears.

However, this magical transformation, to which we are all committed, needs the right tools - the right technology. MicroAid’s Community Office Technology turns Action into Ideas for individual families, online, 24hours a day, across the world.

Put ICT in the hands of poor people and maybe the democratization of power has indeed begun. A magic wand or just a reckless dream?

Richard Beresford MicroAid richard.beresford@microaid.net

Pick up information on Community Office Technology at Social Edge Second Floor or online at microaid.net

london calling - Mar 30, 2004 5:47 pm (#17 Total: 52)


Is this anything like what Global Giving does? Or are they thinking a much larger scale? It's funny because I forget who said it but we were talking about how often an NPO's move to government funding is like the "going public" of an IPO. Imagine if now they actually went down the route of an IPO instead. =)

amaryllis - Mar 30, 2004 5:55 pm (#18 Total: 52)


Thanks everyone, for enabling me to experience the Forum vicariously through you. :) In particular, I appreciate your thorough coverage of the Forum, Keely.

I have a question for the attendees of the event. Were there anything that surprised you? The attendees, quality of sessions, outcomes, and etc.?

Keely Stevenson - Mar 31, 2004 12:26 am (#19 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Professor Yunus gave a remarkable account of his experience as a social entrepreneur building the Grameen Bank. Most notably, he called upon those in the room to create a social-financial stock market, urging that we could “start small with five companies listed…as long as we get it started and then think of the steps [to make it successful].” He said that it is a necessity that we identify leading social entrepreneurs to hold them up and show people how important they are to see how strongly they are changing the system. He used the word “non-loss“ as a better descriptor for the “nonprofit” sector, thus reinforcing that the sector’s profit can be social, environment or financial. He also categorized practitioner social entrepreneurs within a spectrum according to their social business cost recovery status: 1) no concern about cost recovery 2) some cost recovery 3) 100% cost recovery 4) beyond 100% cost recovery ________________________________ Geoff Mulgan was the final keynote on the first evening of the conference. As the Head of Policy, No 10 B and Director of Strategy Unit, he described himself as “part of the new breed of social enterprise tourists” because he had been a globetrotter involved in many social entrepreneurial projects, for example, tiny environmental projects in China, Grameen phone in Bangladesh, etc. Seeing social entrepreneurs in action, he said, “It's hard not to be excited with all this around you.” He discussed the definition of a social entrepreneur with its parallels to entrepreneurial ventures. The characteristics include: “Giving (Henry Ford), humility (grit, grease and garbage of their business), meek enough to endure the humbling of self and the humbling of commitment.” He also focused on the importance of the moral core of social enterprise and giving what the community needs, not necessarily just what it expects or thinks it wants. A common call to action at the conference, Mulgan shared with the community, “There are thousands, millions of people waiting for their potential to be realized. It is our collective responsibility to make sure that happens.”

Keely Stevenson - Mar 31, 2004 12:31 am (#20 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


There were several fantastic parallel sessions. I'll leave it up to the delegates to fill you all in because obviously I could not attend them all. Here's the schedule:

Parallel Session 1 Social Entrepreneurship Case Studies x 4 Session A - Chirag Jain, Integrated Child Development Programme West Bengal Session B – Jeroo Billimoria, Childline India Foundation Session C – Jordan Kassalow, Mindspring Session D – Nic Frances, Executive Director, Brotherhood of St Laurence

Parallel Session 2Social Entrepreneurship Case Studies x 4 Session A – Angelo D’Agostino, Founder, Nyumbani Kenya Session B – Fidela Ebuk, Executive Director, Women's Health and Economic Development Association Session C – Bill Strickland, President, CEO and Founder, Manchester Craftsmen's Guild Session D – Roshaneh Zafar, Managing Director, Kashf Foundation

Parallel Session 3 Social Entrepreneurship Case Studies x 4 Session A – David Green, Executive Director, Project Impact Session B – Nicole Etchart, Co-Founder and CEO, NESsT Session C – Bev Moodie, Founder and CEO, Business Outreach Network Session D – Mel Young, President, International Network of Street Papers

Keely Stevenson - Mar 31, 2004 1:37 am (#21 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Social Edge member Greg Dees talked about building strong intellectual foundations for the emerging field of social entrepreneurship. Dees emphasized the vital need for research in the field. Why is research needed? First, educational programs and effective practice must be built on useful knowledge. Second, knowledge based on stories, observation, and experience is inherently limited. Third, systematic research tests, refines, extends, and deepens informal knowledge. Last, the challenge is to assure research is done in a way that is useful to practitioners.

His key points for the lecture focused on: 1) It is time to sort the rhetoric from the reality in social entrepreneurship; 2) Existing research on “nonprofits” is helpful but limited and often biased; 3) We need to build a research community that engages more business school faculty and students.

Greg actually wrote an article for Social Edge titled, "Social Entrepreneurship is About Innovation and Impact, Not Income." You can read and discuss it at the link below. Click here

David Bonbright - Mar 31, 2004 4:10 am (#22 Total: 52)
Managing Partner, Keystone


My thanks to Caroline for bringing ACCESS into this conversation. I write this during a visit to South Africa, where we are pursuing conversations to create the preconditions for social change marketplaces. Few societies are more read for this. As Bob Tucker, CEO of the South African Banking Council, commented as we discussed the idea yesterday, "This makes sense. The greater the social need, the greater the potential market proposition."

We are approaching the Rubicon in the journey from charity to social investing!

sally osberg - Mar 31, 2004 6:32 am (#23 Total: 52)
CEO of Skoll Foundation


Reflecting on the past three days, I'm exhilarated by the unmistakable sense that social change on a scale the world has never known is at hand. The extraordinary commitment of the 450 people who gathered here in Oxford to share what they know, admit what they struggle with, and commit to working together was remarkable. Yes, the work is hard and the challenges enormous. But the network-- people of extraordinary courage, commitment and intelligence--is indeed taking shape.

What a privilege it has been to listen and learn from such remarkable human beings.

with renewed hope,

Sally

Jon Ennis - Mar 31, 2004 6:49 am (#24 Total: 52)
Queen's School of Business


For those who attended the Stanford undergrad / Oxford MBA presentations at the end of tuesday's events, you will have had a glimpse into the potential of business students to be key partners in all the wonderful projects discussed during the past three days.

As social entrepreneurship establishes its presence in the graduate programs, let's remember that the bachelor students are feeding these MBA programs. My observation is that first and second year undergrads are the most receptive/maleable to new ideas and that they emulate their upper-year and MBA colleagues.

The Stanford group suggested that a good starting point is to inspire, inform, and involve undergrads and high school students. I will be doing my best to follow Stanford's example at Queen's School of Business, Kingston, Canada. If there are any undergrads (or others!) reading this, feel free to send me a message with your ideas.

Thanks to all who organized the conference!

Jeff Skoll - Mar 31, 2004 7:09 am (#25 Total: 52)
Founder of Skoll Foundation


I think we have just witnessed the Woodstock of our generation. Between Bill Drayton, Muhammed Yunus, Les Salamon, Jim Austin etc we have managed to witness all the major rock stars of social entrepreneurship in one place at one time. A first...

The excitement and energy of the conference, leading off with Prince Charles' video address, has been overwhelming. I think we have touched on something profound that is going on in the world. It seems that people are searching for things that make sense in these crazy times and we all intuitively know that the old ways will not lead to a happy future. What has really surprised me is the universal enthusiasm for social entrepreneurship in people from every continent and from all age groups.

Many thanks to the many people who contributed to making this conference a success and thanks to those of you - especially Keely - who have helped to document the conference on SocialEdge.

best, Jeff

mathres - Apr 1, 2004 6:13 am (#26 Total: 52)


I wanted to personally thank Jeff Skoll and all the organisers and participants for this extraordinary event. I thought that the quality of people and the level of positive energy was sometimes overwhelming! Needless to say I am looking forward to next year's event!

Now let us not sit on our words and speeches and start to walk the talk.

Miche Mathres, Partner Susten8

Keely Stevenson - Apr 1, 2004 8:26 pm (#27 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Sally Osberg opened the second day of the conference by describing the next 36 hours as an exploration of “the intertwined strands, the double helix of social entrepreneurship theory and socially entrepreneurial practice.” She began with a rather fitting quote by Robert Frost and said, “It's knowing what to do with things that counts,” because social entrepreneurs, indeed, know what to do with that most important of all things, human potential, and what to do about a world starving for new solutions to tough problems. Osberg gave a snapshot of those tough problems, most notably that the statistic that 80% of the world’s wealth is controlled by 1 billion, less than 20% of its population, all of them living in industrialized countries.

Osberg proudly shared the Foundation’s hope that the knowledge the Centre will generate and share through the Forum, and through its curriculum, fellows, and scholars will move social entrepreneurship “from the margin to the center of business learning.” The hope is that it will inspire, educate and serve generations of potential agents of social change, and that it will be “a force field of ideas and strategies and truly useful information for those legions of charged social entrepreneur electrons already at work in the world.”

My favorite part of Osberg's remarks was this: "Like Bilbo Baggins and Don Quixote and Luke Skywalker, we’ve been summoned. Let our work together not be tentative or timid but sure and bold; let us not be fragmented and territorial, but collectively more--far more--than the sum of our parts. Above all, let us hold fast to our belief that the world we imagine is indeed within reach, and clear that it’s going to need us all."

With high standards and hopes for a Forum fueling and setting the direction for the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Osberg introduced one of the godfathers of social entreprneurship, William Drayton, founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.

Drayton addressed the delegates by describing that we have experienced a profound transformation of the citizen sector. He outlined the increase in growth and professional opportunities in the citizen sector, and the fact that we are becoming a field. The distinction between local changemakers and pattern changing changemakers was also an emphasis as “systemic change” is the only way to diminish and eventually eradicate these large scale problems in our world. Most importantly, he warned that now is the time to work together to build the wiring and institutions appropriately because we have a historic window of opportunity. We must be smart as we crystallize how we work together with government, business, etc. The field must be globally and operationally integrated. He concluded with a challenge: The Centre at Said must marry the strengths of the practitioners with those of the scholars. This is where other programs have failed and where Said’s opportunity presents itself. This is what Osberg painted in our mind’s eye as the double helix of social entrepreneurship.

Keely Stevenson - Apr 1, 2004 8:28 pm (#28 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


There was a good panel on the second day after the parallel sessions hosted by: 1) William Drayton, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, USA 2) Martin Fisher, Co-Founder and Technical Director of ApproTEC 3) Michele Giddens, Executive Director, Bridges Community Ventures 4) Lee Davis, Co-Founder and CEO, NESsT

The panelists discussed the key highlights of the parallel sessions (see post #20) and focused on what the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship could do moving forward to contribute to the sector. Below are my notes from each of the panelists' remarks.

Lee Davis, Co-Founder and CEO, NESsT Our Social Edge community members Jim & Timlynn Sohodojo would have loved how Lee started to address the audience of over 400 people. He began with a reminder that "small is beautiful" and that scale, in terms of being big, does not necessarily translate to success. Diversity is important in the sector and is part of its beauty.

He also commented on the motivation of those working in this space, pointing out the difference between motivation sparked by ego vs. passion. “The passion for effective impact is driving you, and that is distinct from someone who is looking for power and glory.”

Their session contained the following highlights:

-Strategy: What does change mean? It can mean creating something new, moving something currently locked out of the system, or more.

-Truth: a word that came out in all the presentations. People expressed that they are sick and tired of playing the game. Frankness is what we want.

-Simplicity: The idea for the World Cup for Homeless People is such a powerful but simple idea. It completely changed the contextual framework by taking homeless people out of the environment. Instead of seeing them as homeless, you see them as heroes.

-Advice: Open the doors and let them in. The real benefit in this program will be to bring together the students with practitioners in the local and global community.

William Drayton, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, USA

Social Entrepreneurs range the full spectrum of life and professional experience. An entrepreneur is clear about the goal and they are understanding about WHY they are going to tip the system. They have the strength to be humble, to know they can continue to be small until they have learned enough to know what they are doing.

He said, “You [social entrepreneurs] know when to continue and when to quit,” and then gave an example of David Green who is very careful about the point at which he leaves the project after it is up and successfully running. Social entrepreneurs have “courage,” and he said that knowing who you are is a vital component of this courage.

What do social entrepreneurs need? With their persistence for changing the system, practitioners need “colleagues, networking, wiring.”

He clearly stated that systemic change is the key. You don’t need a huge organization, but you are not going to effect change unless you change the system.

Recommendations for the University’s new program included: - Having some of the graduates come back and closing the gap between one generation and the next. The opportunity is here to provide a cross generational bridge.

-International internships would be very valuable for the summer program.

Martin Fisher, Co-Founder and Technical Director of ApproTEC President/Executive Director ApproTEC-USA

SE’s have the same basic structure to addressing problems. They have seen social problems, are frustrated with existing solutions, find a new solution and tried it out. You have to be willing to try, fail, innovate and learn as you go along.

Scale is important to tackling problems. One should move beyond the passion to something that is scalable and replicable. HOW? How to get model clearly defined so they are scalable is a big question. So many of these solutions are location dependent. How do you move it and be flexible enough in the model? It is not perfectly repeatable.

Another important issue is to know how to move beyond the founder to scale. The answer is to embed in the program the culture that drives the mission, not purely the passion of the founder.

How do you get the resources to scale? Money, people. As these enterprises grow, the leadership/ founder spends time in fundraising and managing rather than innovating and setting up new initiatives.

Measuring the social impacts of a problem is absolutely critical.

For Oxford: Can you really make a social entrepreneur or an entrepreneur at all? Can you train this skill or just identify existing potential and give tools to get them to where they are going?

Michele Giddens, Executive Director, Bridges Community Ventures spoke about her panel session. Specifically, her group had discussed these highlights: -The importance of accepting failure. To flourish, entrepreneurs must take risks.

-The group also pointed out the significant cultural gaps they encounter when relating to foundations and governments.

-The fact that our [social entrepreneurs'] learnings are common to entrepreneurship. Serial entrepreneurs are in this space. The skill is about starting something, not necessarily managing the growth.

-Partnerships: how can social enterprises effectively partner with government? Clearly, wide-scale adoption of these programs can’t happen without government buy-in, but at the same time, dangers exist. Scale and franchising will be important to understand. Small is beautiful, but big can be pretty good as well.

-The old chestnut: funding. Capturing impact to attract funders makes measurement essential. Connecting lofty work and grassroots activity will be an important aspect.

-How can academia be a place for social entrepreneurs to reflect? The school should not become too ivory tower. It needs to remain integrated with practitioners, case studies and funded internships in the real world. Most importantly, it needs to work to diminish competition between business school social enterprise programs and begin to work more closely together. _____ Question to all on the panel: How do we engage the next generation of social entrepreneurs?

Drayton: More than learning Latin or computer science, kids want to know how can I be a player and contribute? Help realize their potential as players and leaders. Davis: There is a significant opportunity to engage the other departments at the university for this program. There is a toolset that people come to get in an MBA program, but we could really help develop a concept of creativity and innovation from a variety of different settings within the university. Being interdisciplinary is essential.

EdFromDDD - Apr 2, 2004 6:39 am (#29 Total: 52)
Edward McLean, UK Managing Director, Digital Divide Data


Stepping out of the office and coming face to face with others working for the same goals has been a fantastic experience. Furthermore, the spirit of cooperation and the sharing of ideas and resources is so encouraging.

For me, the Forum provided a platform for a key message - We are making a difference (and we will continue to do so with ever greater determination and effectiveness).

Best wishes to all the speakers, organisers and my fellow delegates. I will see you again next year!

Ed

Keely Stevenson - Apr 2, 2004 5:41 pm (#30 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


David Bornstein concluded the second day of the conference with a presentation full of grace and inspiration. David is the author of “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas,” and spent the last five years interviewing more than 100 social entrepreneurs from ten countries for his book. He explored the qualities shared by social entrepreneurs and the common elements of their problem solving. It was cool that some of those featured in his book were in attendance. He also discussed the importance of empowering the next generation of social entrepreneurs with the right tools to make a difference.

Where can you find David on Social Edge?
1. He wrote a “Thought Leaders on the Edge” article here:
 http://skoll.socialedge.org/?293@@.1ad4b92d


2. The Social Edge community has spent this month discussing David’s book in its book club. If you are interested in ordering the book or joining the online discussion with him and some of the social entrepreneurs featured in his book, click here: http://skoll.socialedge.org/?14@859.hHdXaXNmTWM.42@.1adf018d

Keely Stevenson - Apr 2, 2004 5:43 pm (#31 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Alex Nicholls, the fist lecturer on social entrepreneurship in the UK, delivered his address to the delegates about education and research in social entrepreneurship, focusing specifically on the role of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. Professor Nicholls has been the driving force for managing the Forum’s intellectual, operational and social outcomes. Most importantly, he has spent the last few days (and years of his life) listening to the academics, funders and practitioners in order to work with Anthony Hopwood and the community to design the objectives for the new Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship here at Oxford University.

He began his address by outlining the components of the Centre’s vision: -to be a world-leading institution and resource for social entrepreneurship -to offer world-class research and teaching, both theoretical and practical, that moves the agenda for social entrepreneurship forward -to help catalyze and support global social ventures that bring about real and enduring change for communities in need -to build an international network around its teachings and research so that its knowledge base can benefit the wider social entrepreneurship community

Summing up the input from the past few days, Nicholls delved briefly into the definition of social entrepreneurship with characteristics such as innovation, systemic change, addressing social market failures and grasping opportunities. He outlined the key activities for the Centre, including teaching, research and network building. This Forum will be held annually and will be a product of all three of these objectives. He also emphasized the multidisciplinary approach to research activities and projects. For example, the Centre will draw on various disciplines as it contributes to the pioneering of a taxonomy for social entrepreneurship and a database of practitioners around the world.

Professor Nicholls concluded with the statement, "The Skoll Centre will position itself as a leading international academic resource for social entrepreneurship known for excellence in teaching, research and network building." It strives to advance the body of knowledge in social entreprenuership to support systemic change and help communities globally.

Keely Stevenson - Apr 2, 2004 6:34 pm (#32 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Jed Emerson, full of energy, humor and frankness delivered his keynote, outlining the implications of blended value as we move forward in our work. His “shtick” (as he called it) was intended to “reminded us of things we used to know.” He was referring to what our mom knew when she told us, “be smart with your allowance, don’t hit your sister and don’t forget to walk the dog.” It is about maximizing the economics within your control-- the social element is fully embedded in economic transactions. Emerson’s focus is on value maximization. It doesn’t matter if you are a nonprofit or for profit because nonprofits under-perform economically and for profits under-perform socially/environmentally. However, all people regardless of industry are circling around the same challenge: value maximization. He stated that there is a single bottom line—value is indivisible.

Emerson outlined his work in building the blended value map. What the Blended Value Proposition states is that all organizations, whether for-profit or not, create value that consists of economic, social and environmental value components-and that investors (whether market-rate, charitable or some mix of the two) simultaneously generate all three forms of value through providing capital to organizations.
While all value naturally consists of a blend, certain investors and organizations are intentionally attempting to create and maximize the impact of this total, blended value. The Blended Value Map (www.blendedvalue.org), explores five key areas in which both investors and organizations are working to maximize this blended value. These areas are:
· Corporate Social Responsibility,
· Social Enterprise,
· Social Investing,
· Strategic/Effective Philanthropy and
· Sustainable Development.
I loved the way Emerson concluded his remarks. He emphasized the importance of working together through value networks that build connections by quoting Douglas Busch of the Inter Corp, “every company as the diagram of the universe in which they’re the center. That’s never true. We’re all a node in a mesh.” He then flashed beautiful images of cosmos and a fractal (graphic representation generated through numerics) on the screen to make his point that the future is about building the space together and taking care of the commons in a different way. He challenged us to look on the horizon and get there together.

Where can you find Jed Emerson on Social Edge?
He is currently hosting an online event called Building Blended Value. To participate online, click here: http://skoll.socialedge.org/?293@@.3c3e7cf4

Keely Stevenson - Apr 2, 2004 8:24 pm (#33 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Kim Alter of Virtue Ventures delivered one of my favorite presentations. She kept the audience entertained with a good balance of humor, intellectual stimulation and inspiration. What I liked about Alter’s presentation was that within her framework, she used great examples from her work in the field (a social entrepreneur herself, she has worked on projects in 30-something countries.) It provided a reminder of the practical application for much of the theory that had been bouncing around.

Alter’s presentation outlined two doors into social enterprise: program strategy and financial strategy. She described the following categories for social enterprise and underscored the importance of mission focus: · Embedded: Enterprise and social program are one and the same · Integrated: Business activities overlap with social programs; synergies, shared costs and assets · Complimentary: Social and business activities separate and may or may not be related to mission. She also outlined various social enterprise operational models: employment, entrepreneur, org support, market intermediary, service subsidation, and fee-for-service.

Most importantly, she underscored that mission is the anchor. She warned that philanthropic funding can have just as much influence on mission creep as earned income.

Her typology and case studies intrigued me, so I checked out www.virtueventrures.org, too. Pretty cool. Alter concluded by sharing that with the emergence of programs like Oxford’s MBA for social entrepreneurs, we are developing “Joan of Arc with an MBA.” She could have easily been describing many people in the room, including her self.

Keely Stevenson - Apr 2, 2004 8:26 pm (#34 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Moderated by Sally Osberg, the final panel discussion at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship focused on recommendations for the Centre as it is created and on, what Sally Osberg called, the “kaleidoscope of what is possible, the frontier of what we can do together and what needs to be done.”

__Greg Dees__ We are taking away incredible intellectual excitement--broadly from blended value, narrowly from social enterprise. The future activities must be driven by the practitioners. Some of the most powerful elements of this conference were the connections and discussion, and next year we could benefit from more discussion and engagement. The Centre’s work must be interdisciplinary and encourage international perspective. Good to have view of those with a “bird’s eye view” such as financiers investing in social entrepreneurs worldwide.

__Isabel Maxwell__ Marketing: The marketing of what the social entrepreneur does and social entrepreneurs themselves is VERY important and key to building the field. Listening is an absolute value. Because marketing is so essential, we must “find a way to measure hope.”

__Pamela Hartigan__ This Forum has diminished the fragmentation in the sector. Sometimes it feels that we are operating in different space, but we were able to build a fraternity and sisterhood in through event. What stands out most is that we are running out of time. We have much to seize. Social entrepreneurs always see opportunity; they see the glass half full. Being around it affects you in a frightening way. It’s about egos and time. Social Entreprenerus are often ego free, and development takes time. Giving up the ego for a greater good. It takes a LONG time for social entrepreneurs to effect transformational change. There are opportunities for young people to pursue their passions for making a difference.

As he set off to develop the Centre, Alex Nicholls closed the Forum with a quote from an English poet:

“There is nothing you can do that can’t be done.”

Who was that English poet? http://www.beatles.onlinehome.de/yellow6.htm

Keely Stevenson - Apr 2, 2004 8:29 pm (#35 Total: 52)
Royal Bafokeng Economic Board


Well, it has officially concluded. The hustle and bustle of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship was like a raging river of positive energy and intellectual stimulation. While we were happily diving into and swimming in that river (well, Jed Emerson described it as a bit like drinking from a fire hydrant), there was little time for delegates to reflect and capture the thoughts online here at Social Edge. As each delegate travels back to his or her country, I encourage all to capture their thoughts and notes here for those in our community who could not afford the time or travel expenses to attend.

Special thanks to Jeff, Sally, Anthony and Mike for being the social entrepreneurs they are and architecting this opportunity over a year ago. And my deepest gratitude to the Oxford team, Kathryn, Alex, Maike, Sally, Debra and the many others for producing a successful and historical event! What a way to kick off the Skoll Centre on Social Entrepreneurship.

Finally, a warm appreciation to my Social Edge team (Phil, Terry, Vaz, Dave, Tom & Anne) for creating a Forum web presence that celebrates the social entrepreneurs who gathered this week to build on their life’s work and make us all proud.

To the Social Edge friends and colleagues who could not join us, WE MISSED YOU and feel very fortunate that you could join us online. Thanks for reading this.

To those new friends I have met at the Forum, welcome to the Social Edge community! Thank you for the gift of yourself. I know you will enjoy this truly remarkable space for changemakers.

My hope is that what I have shared with you here this week will enrich your lives, just as the Forum has enriched mine. It is clear that we need to act now to change our world; there is a lot at stake, and we have a lot of urgent work ahead of us to encourage, empower and fuel social entrepreneurs around the world. For me, the Forum was an infusion of hope, positive and innovative thinking and the historical mark of an emerging industry of social entrepreneurship. Thanks again to all those who made it happen.

Peace!

Have you seen the photo gallery or listened to the interviews from the Forum yet? Click here: http://skoll.socialedge.org/?293@@.3c3e8d29

idem - Apr 4, 2004 7:14 am (#36 Total: 52)
Sustainable Development Network Limited


I was not able to attend the Skoll World Forum, but I have followed a bit of it via this Social Edge community. Also I had the opportunity of hosting and talking with one of the Guest Speakers after the conference. It all sound really wonderful, but my question (as I always do at the end of any conference) is: "What Next?". In other word, how will all the three days discussions be translated into actions that impact the needy in their communities? Or is it all going to end up at news and publication archives? If you imagine that while the conference was going on, several disadvantaged people would have suffered severely from hunger, poor education, enterprise failures, ill health, etc, etc, then you know why I ask "What Next?" As Richard Beresford of MicroAid says here, "Who has the magic wand and who are the people who should do good things? The answer is of course the families in disadvantaged communities all over the world." How many of these category of people were invited as speakers, panelists, organising team members for this conference? I always feel these people should be highly involved in the preparation and delivery of this type of conferences, because they have the experience and know what it means to be disadvantaged: they have bitten into the mango and can tell the true taste of the mango. Nothing like experiencing it.

On the whole, I thank the Skoll Centre for Social Enterpreneurship for organising the conference and hope that the future conferences will include the actual (disadvantaged) people with the magic wand in the preparation and delivery of the conference. Richard, I will be visiting your MicroAid website soon. Feel free to visit our Sustainable Development Network Limited (SDN)website at www.sdnetwork.kabissa.org.

Idem Udoekong,

london calling - Apr 5, 2004 1:45 pm (#37 Total: 52)


I noticed that The Skoll World Forum is featured in the Guardian and in a column on ABCNews.com

http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/business/siliconinsider/siliconinsider.html

http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,5500,1169877,00.html

nice job!

Kristen - Apr 6, 2004 2:27 am (#38 Total: 52)
FYD Productions


My name is Kris Hicks. I have a TV/Film production company (FYD Productions) in Los Angeles, creating projects that empower young people. I have just returned from the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship and would like to share my thoughts.

I was