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One delegate's perspective on... The 2007 Skoll World Forum, Said Business School, Oxford, UK | |
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Declaration of interest: I've been working in aid and development in Africa since 1982. My interest in social entrepreneurship is motivated by a desire to see it succeed where traditional aid and development has failed. Cordelia Salter
Silicon spires  It's a strategically smart move for the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship to place itself within Oxford University. The forum was addressed by John Hood the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University and Stephan Chambers MBA Director and Fellow of Said Business School. Both speakers noted the energy and hope offered by the Forum and its participants. Oxford University has an unparalleled global network with extraordinary outreach. Social entrepreneurs face many diverse barriers as documented by some panellists such as unfair agricultural subsidies and imbalanced global trade regulations. Oxford is one of the few institutions in the world that has direct outreach into circles of power to positively impact these barriers to change.
Apples and oranges Many of the presenters - whether entrepreneurs, foundations, supporters or researchers - stated that their area of expertise was either US or UK based. There were no foundations or supporters specialising in funding or advising social enterprises not in the West. There is need for clear definitions between the two types of social enterprise: US and European social entrepreneurs have relatively easy access to sources of funding and advice within their own countries. Entrepreneurs in other parts of the world rarely have foundations or sources of funding in their own countries and often have to rely on foreigners. However these sources of funding often have high entry level requirements (such as US 501c3 non charity status) which are often out of reach for enterprises in the developing world. These funding barriers and the difference between the two types of enterprise should be recognised. Jim Koch of Santa Clara's Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) - one of the truly global support organisations for social entrepreneurs - was a delegate but he would have made an interesting panellist. See an interview with Jim Koch Reasons to be optimistic Larry Brilliant, Executive Director of Google.org moved us all by documenting his personal experience of being part of the eradication of the killer disease smallpox. It was a daunting task but by hard work and persistence it was a success and smallpox now only exists in laboratories. It's sad to reflect that the recent campaign to eradicate polio failed because of lack of trust from the residents of Kanu in Northern Nigeria who hid their children from the health workers fearing that it was a Western plot to wipe out Moslems by infecting them with AIDs. This lack of trust and suspicion of the intentions of the West is a reality that must be dealt with quickly or it will haunt us all. Diversity is credibility When the aid and development industry boomed in the last quarter of the 20th century it was dominated by white males and still is at top management level. However considerable attention and funding is now dedicated to diversifying the sector across both gender and colour to the extent that everyone in development now pays great attention to their diversity balance. At the Skoll Forum there were a few non-white entrepreneurs - notably Mohamed Yunus - and a few women but their ratio would have been described as "token" in development. Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan made an appeal during the opening ceremony for what she called "Corporate Multi-cultural Responsibility" - corporations taking responsibility to ensure ethnic diversity. The Skoll Forum would do well to pay attention to what she says because if social enterprise is perceived as another white people's club it will attract criticism and discourage other key players, particularly those from development, from joining. Roadmap to sustainability Social entrepreneurs must have drive, tenacity and energy to succeed. They must cut through difficulties and break down barriers that would defeat others. Whilst these are admirable qualities they are not the qualities needed for long term sustainability. Each social entrepreneur should be required to have a roadmap to sustainability as part of their value proposition. This will prevent flash in the pan initiatives that die when the first challenging phase is over and routine sets in. Health for all by the Year 2000 Jeff Skoll outlined his vision for the future shaped by social entrepreneurs. He celebrated some of the successes so far and ended with a series of imaginary headlines 10 years in the future… peace between Palestine and Israel, no more child soldiers in Africa, the last person lifted out of poverty. Ten years is but a heartbeat… we're already half way through the Millennium Development Goals which the world pledged to achieve by 2015 (at great expense and with much publicity) but they remain as elusive as ever. In 1999 the World Health Organisation had to quietly shelve its much lauded "Health for all by the Year 2000" campaign when it realised it was undoable. Beware of even imagining goals unless there are concrete steps to achieve them… the world of development is rather tired of them. We'll never win alone... During the Skoll Foundation Awards Ceremony held in the Sheldonian Theatre, where for centuries Oxford undergraduates have been awarded their degrees, Muna Younes, the daughter of Mohamed Younes and world renowned opera singer gave a spirited rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song "You'll never walk alone". In the UK this song is more usually heard sung by the fans of Liverpool Football Club. Considering that the private UK schools that traditionally feed Oxford with its undergraduates still don't include soccer in their curriculum as it is considered too working class, this may have had some Oxford dons turning in their graves. Nice one Muna! But the song contains an important message. During the opening of one of the first sessions "Funding ideas, Backing People" the moderator David Bornstein, Social Innovation Writer did a stand up, sit down survey of the participants. One of his questions was "How many people are here from government?" There were none. This produced a murmur of amusement from the delegates and panellists alike. During the final session John Elkington, Founder and Chief Entrepreneur of SustainAbility got a round of applause when he said that hero focus should be avoided. Other panellist noted that social entrepreneurs, by their nature preferred to work alone. Ed Milibrand, UK Minister for the Third Sector called for the government to be included as much as possible as it was only through government engagement that permanent changes could be made. I looked through the delegate list to see if there were any of the traditional NGOs present many of whom have already adopted social enterprise models in their development programmes - such as Oxfam who are based in Oxford. There were none. The NGO sector was often referred to by panellists as though it was one but it isn't. It's a highly diversified sector which includes multi-lateral, bi-lateral, faith and community biases with much rivalry between agencies. If the social enterprise sector is to be effective it must open up and include all players - governments, the UN, NGOS as well as the corporate sector and be a unifying force. Watch out for that elephant! Many well thought out development projects have failed because they didn't face up to the reality of corruption. From the top ministerial greed level through to income subsidy of under paid employees - and a rainbow of hues in between - corruption is a reality and must be factored in to achieve sustainability. I heard no mention of how social entrepreneurs should handle the corruption issue but if you don't watch out for it, it'll squash you! History is not a foreign country Poverty and disadvantage is a well mapped place no matter where in the world it is. It should be standard for any social enterprise to supply the history of the sector they're moving into to make sure that the past is well understood. During the Skoll awards ceremony we were shown a film by Participant Productions about VillageReach a health project in Mozambique. But Mozambique has a functioning government and a ministry of health which is probably supported by the World Health Organisation as well as numerous NGOs already working in the health sector. It would have made the story more rounded to know why these had all failed to provide these essential services. Was it lack of funding? Was it corruption? Was it inefficiency? Feedback ratings Would ebay work if sellers were allowed to give their own feedback? A big downfall of the traditional development sector is that beneficiaries have no voice. Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen Fund said that they were including the opinions of their beneficiaries in their project format which is a good sign. Social entrepreneurs should remember that there is nothing new about using business methods in development. Under the auspices of the World Bank and IMF it was called "privatisation" and has resulted in some of the most unpopular programmes on the planet. Because of "privatisation" water in many poor areas of Africa is now more expensive than it is in the middle class suburbs forcing the poor who are unable to pay to drink filthy, polluted water. These people have never had a voice and are still not being listened to. Social entrepreneurs would do well to include the opinions of their target beneficiaries from the beginning to demonstrate that they're different. My wish list for the next Skoll Forum:
Visit the Skoll Forum website or the SocialEdge.org. | ||
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