Social enterprise? Revolution?

I spent the day at an event in Cambridge on the future of local government and the role of social enterprise. Some excellent speakers - Dai Powell from Hackney Community Transport  (http://www.hctgroup.org) was really interesting on barriers for social entrepreneurs and engaging with local government.

The theme was how can social enterprise step into the gap left by local government cuts. Local government is listening - the door is open. The Chief Executives and Leaders of all of the county and borough authorities in the East of England were there. They wanted to know how social enterprise can fill the gap.

But for me, it was social enterprise that needed to raise it's game today; not enough had thought about what they were offering, and why, and whether it would be self sustaining. Some were offering precisely the services that local government is cutting, with no real ideas on how they would make a margin to reinvest - they hadn't moved on from the grant-based model; they had simply been rebadged as 'social enterprises'.

Very few stood entirely apart from  payments which ultimately came from central government - very few seemed genuinely self-funding. One organisation wins tenders to run bus services from local government - instead of taking the profit, it is invested in the community. All good stuff, no doubt, but is it social enterprise? And if government funding dried up tomorrow - could the company survive? No - so is it a revolution?

There's a real danger that some pretty conventional ideas will rebadge themselves as q social enterprises in a bid to meet the zeitgeist - but which are sufficiently innovative, well-thought through and financially sound  to genuinely offer something to communities and residents? The market will decide.

Welcome to Eastworks

Welcome to Eastworks. This blog is for anyone with an interest in community, employment, growth, skills and enterprise in the East of England.

There are around 120,000 people in the East of England who cannot access work. In a beautiful rural setting, with great wealth, there are places of real deprivation - places where people don't feel they have a chance to work, and engage in their community.

I work for a social purpose company, and I spend my time visiting outstanding organisations working with people across East Anglia, in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Beds and Herts.

I want to share the ideas of the companies and people I meet. We have a common interest - we want to make things better for all people in the East of England.

For unemployed people in Lowestoft, young people in Basildon who don't feel that they can engage in the job market, or people in rural Cambridgeshire who feel that they are too far from local services.

I want to share the ideas of the businesses I meet and see how we can bring these to life in the East of England and I want to know what you think.

So please comment, post, share - vent. Tell me what you, or your company or your community is doing that is making a difference. We may be able to work together.

East Anglia is a big, open place. Let's come together to share ideas on how to make our communities work for everyone.