The Global Competitiveness Forum (GCF) started back in 2007 when a group of world ICT experts came together to discuss how ICT could enable competitiveness. Since 2007 the forum has grown, running an annual meeting to bring together global business and political leaders, journalists and experts in their fields. The aim of the forum is to stimulate discussions and find solutions for how organisations  and national competitiveness can have a positive impact on local, regional and global economic and social development.

The last forum was held in January 2011 in Saudi Arabia and focussed on “Innovation as a Means to Competitiveness” looking at how to develop competitivess to “build sustainability, promote responsible development, and drive economic growth.” The forum looked at the current challenges to competitiveness and how innovation can provide solutions to them.

Sally Osberg, President and CEO of The Skoll Foundation was one of the key note speakers talking about how social entrepreneurs are can be one of these innovative solutions particularly about Conscious Capitalism and Conscious leadership.

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It’s Voice 11. Here’s the last post in the series giving you a brief overview of the Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship sector conferences in March, I’ll cover how you can get involved and get some of the useful information if you’re not able to attend them all (which is highly likely as they all seem to be at the same time!).

3. Voice 11

Voice 11 is an annual conference run by The Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC), the UK’s national body for Social Enterprise. SEC is the voice for the social enterprise sector and works to showcase the benefits of social enterprise and represent the work of it’s members to influence national policy and share good practice. SEC has run Voice since 2005 when it was set up to bring the sector together and support social enterprises in their work, Voice is the UK’s largest Social Enterprise conference.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s the second post in the series giving you a brief overview of the Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship sector conferences.

2. Oxford Jam

Oxford Jam was set up in 2010 to run alongside the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. The aim is to bring together social entrepreneurs to develop the social economy. Oxford Jam works on the basis of an open access policy meaning it’s really inclusive and anyone at any stage of social entrepreneurship/ enterprise can attend to share knowledge, experience, develop networks and create innovation solutions to social problems- also a key element is to enjoy yourself by the looks of things! Read the rest of this entry »

Over the next few weeks the Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship sector will be hosting three conferences. in a series of three posts I’ll give you a brief overview of what will be covered at The Skoll World Forum, Oxford Jam and Voice 11, how you can get involved and get some of the useful information if you’re not able to attend them all (which is highly likely as they all seem to be at the same time!).

1. The Skoll World Forum On Social Entrepreneurship

The Skoll World Forum is a programme run by the Skoll Foundation in partnership with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, Oxford University. It has been running since 2004 when it was set up to bring together a diverse group of people from across the world to stimulate new approaches to solving some of the worlds most important social issues. Read the rest of this entry »

This week’s moral maze covered a debate about the role of Charities in modern society and how they fit into the big society vision, particulary looking at procurement of LA services to thirds sector organisations. Read the rest of this entry »

The Times Online has what they call a ‘special report’ on Social Entrepreneurs. This is a mini website bringing together a group of articles on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship.

A couple of the articles include:

• Defining the Social Entrepreneur 
• An article on Kavita Oberoi which is good, but more about charity

Great to see one of the world’s biggest newspapers spending some time on this.

The Clinton Global Intiative (CGI) have just held the 2008 Annual Meeting in New York. The meeting brought together 80 current and former heads of state, hundreds of top CEOs and non-profit leaders, major philanthropists, and 10 of the last 16 Nobel Peace Laureates “to examine some of today’s most pressing global challenges and transform that awareness into tangible action”. This year the 3 day meeting focused on education, engery and climate change, global health and poverty.

You can hear/ watch all of the interesting debates on the CGI website. Some of the topics that were covered are:

Education

• Providing real choices: what works for at-risk adolescent girls and boys?
• Beyond microfinance: strengthening business and entrepreneurship education for women in emerging economies
• Expanding the school-health connection

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Muhammad Yunus (founder of the Grameen Bank) and Liam Black (social entrepreneur and manager of restaurant chain Fifteen) featured in a recent interview for Social Enterprise Magazine. They spoke to each other about the future of social businesses and Muhammad’s new work with private companies Danone and Veolia.  They talk through the complex relationships of making money and doing social good.   To read the full interview visit the Social Enterprise Magazine Website. 

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Social Entreprise London are holding a conference on 22 October 2008 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank London. The conference will open up discussions on the future of social enterprise in London looking specifically at business development, public-private partnerships and new emerging markets.  To learn more about the conference, it’s speakers and seminars sessions click here.   To book your place visit the Social Enterprise London registration page.