Lucy Wood. Information for social entrepreneurs. Tips on starting & running social enterprises
Social Entrepreneurs

Times Online: Social Entrepreneurs Special

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:

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


Social Enterprises, Social Entrepreneurs

Clinton Global 2008: the Social Tracking Platform

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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Social Entrepreneurs

Muhammad Yunus talks to Liam Black

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


Social Enterprises, Social Entrepreneurs, social Enterprise Across the Globe

Muhammad Yunus: The Rise of Micro-Credit

I have just finished reading a book by Muhammad Yunus about the creation of Micro-Credit and the rise of the Grameen Bank. The book tells the story of how the Grameen Bank was created and how Muhammad Yunus introduced Micro-Credit to poor comunities in Bangladesh and around the world. It also puts forward some interesting arguments against traditional ways of banking and offers us tips on how to engage with and run successful community programmes for underpriviliedged societies. The book is called Banker to the Poor: The Story of the Grameen Bank by Muhammad Yunus. Below I will outline some of the issues covered that I found particularly interesting.

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Social Enterprises, Social Entrepreneurs

Social Entreprise London Conference October 2008

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.  


Social Enterprises, Social Entrepreneurs

Seth Godin: Grow Your Social Project/ Enterprise

Seth Godin is a marketing expert and writes one of the worlds best marketing blogs. Seth has a history of entrepreneurship and started his first enterprise at the age of 14 (read more about Seth on Wikipedia).   Seth has recently produced a free half hour presentation on how to grow your business for non-profit organisations. Listen to his what he has to say by clicking here.   Why not subscribe to Seth’s blog and get information about his free ebooks, seminars and general thoughts about business and marketing.     


Social Entrepreneurs

Small Bizpod Interviews at the Shine Conference

The Small Bizpod is a great site for entrepreneurs. It was started in 2005 by Alex Bellinger to help individuals start up, manage and develop small businesses. Alex did this by interviewing entrepreneurs across the country to get here their stories and share their experiences as they struggle to create successful businesses. Since it started in 2005 Small Bizpod has become really well respected and Alex’s pod casts are listened to by thousands of people from across the world. This months podcast is all about social entrepreneurship where Alex interviewed participants at the Shine conference in May  2008. Listen to their thoughts on social entrepreneurship by visiting the Small Bizpod website and downloading the podcast (number 73 social entrepreneurs at shine).    


Social Entrepreneurs

Social Entrepreneurs: Economic Catalyst

sustainability.jpg
Photo by Jonathan Talbot, World Resources Institute

A few weeks ago the 2008 World Entrepreneurship Summit took place in London. At the summit one of the founders Dr Rebecca Harding, launched a report looking at the important role of entrepreneurship in stimulating economic development.

The report recognises that entrepreneurs are crucial in creating economic growth, but raises questions as to how this economic growth will “create a sustainable future for the world”.

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