“Progress Through the Chaos”

The following is a contribution from Eugenia Afonso, our Beyond Profit UK Representative.

“Progress through the chaos.” This was the theme of ClearlySo’s social business conference last week in London. Indeed, much like Milton’s Chaos in Paradise Lost, the global financial crisis has proved difficult terrain to navigate for businesses pursuing profit with social impact. Governments have been focusing on the ailing traditional market sector and uncertainties abound with the rise of “never-been-tested” business models. But if the audience, panels, and keynote speakers at ClearlySo are anything to go by, these presumptions belong to a pre-crisis world. Stories of innovation, success, and ambition punctuated every negative comment and alluded to the bright experience and future of the sector.

We were warmly welcomed by Rod Schwartz, the CEO of ClearlySo, who led us through the day. In keeping with the day’s theme, he stressed the immediate need for alternative business models in the face of the failure of traditional forms of business.

There was a strong focus on setting up and operating social enterprises within the UK, but businesses represented at the forum ranged from those helping Afghan women on routes to employment to ones bringing solar-powered energy to rural Africa.

The day was structured around panels and talks by executives, entrepreneurs, and business commentators. Among these offerings, budding social entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to pitch their business to the audience in 45-second slots – for a chance to be given a longer 15 minute pitch in front of a panel of judges. A dragon’s den for social businesses, you might say.

The panels focused on the challenges and benefits facing social enterprises in the UK from a public policy perspective. With this in mind the audience geared up to debate enterprise models and their nuances.

Damien Roussat, of Babyloan.org, a French-based online microfinance company, emphasised a regional, pan-European push for the social enterprise sector to help accelerate the growth of the space. A recurrent theme throughout was the need to build up a solid social enterprise sector. Government funding in the UK has been significant yet has lacked the full force needed to get the sector fully established. This point is backed by a call for more “doing” and less talk on the role of social businesses. Jonathan Guthrie, the Financial Times’ enterprise writer, criticized the lack of real “big hitters” in the sector, citing only a few big names such as Justgiving.com as having real appeal and presence. Indeed this underscores the relatively recent nature of the sector but more positively the capacity for greater expansion.

The keynote address was delivered by Ella Heeks, formerly of Abel and Cole, a hugely successful home delivery organic food service, who spoke about the mistakes and happy accidents that cultivated a strong, healthy business. She openly acknowledged that attaining a coherent ethical approach in all aspects of the businesses was one of the most challenging, yet essential, parts of running a social enterprise. Overall the conference held out optimism for the future of social enterprise – it underlined scope for growth, a need for a stronger structure, and a move towards increased professionalization.

And the pitchers? The three that made it to the final round were Foodworks UK, a small organization recycling wasted food from supermarkets as healthy meals for London’s needy; Epona Clothing, a fair-trade organic clothing company; and, Fitness for your Future, a British team working to get fitness on the agenda in schools to promote a healthy lifestyle and combat malnutrition. Let’s hope the judges can put their money where their mouths are.