Mind the Gap

An invitation to Social
Entrepreneurship

Daniel Bamford

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 Agenda

1. What is the difference between commercial and social

entrepreneurship?

2. Why is social entrepreneurship booming?

3. What are the major challenges – and opportunities?

4. Social entrepreneurship in action: Business Bridge

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 Social Entrepreneurship: there’s a lot of it about…

• 55000+ social enterprises in the UK

Sector Overview • Turnover £27bn
• Employing 5% of the workforce

Political Action • Office of the Third Sector. ‘The new British success story’

• Skoll World Forum/ WEF

Institutional Action • CSLP
• BSchools/ GSVC

• APAX Foundation/ Bridges Ventures

Corporate Action
• Investec

“This is a burgeoning global movement which straddles all other sectors’”

- Financial Times, 15th June 2009
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What is the Difference between Commercial and
Social Entrepreneurship?

Need

Value Opportunity

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 Dimensions of Difference: Need

Entrepreneurial initiative is anchored in perceived unmet need:

Commercial E- • Focus on unmet or poorly met customer needs

ship
• Reflects gaps in market provision

• Focus on unmet or poorly met social needs

Social E-ship
• Reflects gaps in market or public provision

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 Dimensions of Difference: Need

“Social entrepreneurs focus their entrepreneurial talent on solving

social problems – why children are not learning, why technology is
not accessed equally, why pollution is increasing”
Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka

“Social entrepreneurs are one species in the genus entrepreneur.

They are entrepreneurs with a social mission”
Gregory Dees

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 Dimensions of Difference: Opportunity

Commercial
• Entrepreneurs identify and exploit gaps in the market and new niches
E-ship • It’s not the size per se of these ‘gaps’ that matters but their
economic potential

• Social entrepreneurs identify gaps on a bigger canvas: societal level gaps

Social
• Typically these gaps are large scale and often systemic
E-ship
• The challenge of scale is therefore ever present in SE

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 Dimensions of Difference: Opportunity

“The social entrepreneur aims for value in the form of large scale,
transformational benefit that accrues either to a significant segment of
society or society at large”.
Sally Osberg and Roger Martin

“Can we have a national Teacher Corps modelled on the Peace

Corps? The idea was to create a movement of some of our most
promising future leaders to ameliorate inequalities in education by
starting with a critical mass of 500 corps members”
Wendy Kopp, Founder, Teach For America

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 Dimensions of Difference: Value

We can think about different kinds of value…

• Commercial vs social
• Private vs public
• Shareholder vs stakeholder

Social entrepreneurs…
• Create social value
• By addressing public, social problems/needs
• With the aim of maximising stakeholder value

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Dimensions of Difference: Value

Private

Commercial Shareholder Return

Social Stakeholder Return

Public

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 Summing Up the Differences

““Our DNA is rooted in social justice. We’ve tried to be a

catalytic force for good operating in the mainstream
commercial world while at the same time improving the lot
of our suppliers and enabling our farmers to make their
own choices”.
Geoff Tudhope, Chairman, Café Direct

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Social Entrepreneurship: A Spectrum

Non profit Social

Traditional Social Traditional
& revenue purpose
non profit enterprise for profit
generating business

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Why is Social Entrepreneurship Booming?

Demand

Globalisation

Supply

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 Social Entrepreneurship is Booming for 3 Reasons

• Seemingly intractable, major social problems

Demand Side
• Limits of government and markets much clearer

• Finance: philanthropy and equity like finance

Supply Side
• People: putting something back from an earlier age/stage

• Recognition of inter-dependence, mutuality and reciprocity

Globalisation • Greater pluralism: values, beliefs, business models
• Intensified search for personal meaning, relevance and identity

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 Underlying Factors

“Globalisation is not incidental to our lives. It is a shift in our very life

circumstances. It is the way we live today”
Anthony Giddens, Runaway World

“There is a compelling need in the contemporary world to ask

questions not only about the economics and politics of globalisation,
but also the values, ethics and sense of belonging that shape our
conception of the global world… global identity can begin to receive
its due without eliminating other loyalties”
Amartya Sen, Identity and Violence

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 Is the Zeitgeist Changing?

“This generation of students wants to make a difference in

the world”.
Andy Chan, Director of Career Services, Stanford

“Some people I know want to have a Ferrari. My Ferrari is a

photograph on my wall showing me handing over a share
certificate for 100,000 shares in my company which can
help others and perhaps in my country, Chile”.
LBS Sloan 2000 alumnus

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 The 5 Major Challenges Facing Social
Entrepreneurs

• Sustainability – and finance

• Scale
• Collaboration
• Performance measurement
• Governance

But there are also some huge opportunities….

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 The Opportunities

Impact &
Leverage

“The people who gave us the initial £500K have had a

real impact on the lives of more than 10,000 children in
this country”
Brett Wigdortz, Founder, Teach First

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 The Opportunities

Impact &
Investment
Leverage

“I’ve made a return on my investment and at the same time helped

make a difference, so ‘yes’ I’m going to do more”.
Apax Director

“Our target return is 5%. We believe that this is quite achievable and
we might well exceed it…we believe that you can combine business
and social business and earn a sustainable, reasonable return
alongside generating real social returns”.
Sarah Forster, Big Issue Invest

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 The Opportunities

Impact &
Investment Mentoring
Leverage

“Everyone wants to invest in social issues but we haven't found the

leadership to deliver… If you want to invest in developing leadership
you’ll get a greater multiplier of impact”.

“it’s in all our interests to invest in the long term strength and
resilience of our communities and narrow the gaps that remain for too
wide…its about getting people who are better ready to be employed
and are more self-reliant”.
Dame Mary Marsh, CSLP and HSBC

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 The Opportunities

Impact &
Investment Mentoring Innovation
Leverage

“There’s masses of innovation taking place… there’s a great

opportunity to get involved. It is a major social change which
companies can learn just by dipping their toes in the water”.
Geoff Tudhope, Café Direct

“We looked at conventional banks and we turned everything

round…conventional banks always demanded lump sum repayments
and I decided to do exactly the opposite”
Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank
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 Pulling it together

“Investec has been in the front line of social investment. This is

a natural next step and we want to be at the leading edge.
We believe that there are great commercial opportunities,
particularly in areas where the state is struggling. We can gain
a reputation for seeding, incubating and supporting innovative
sustainable solutions for developing nations.”
Lisa Kropman, Investec

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Our Vision

Provide open access to high-quality

business education at low-cost on a
global scale to historically disadvantaged
individuals.
Achieved by on-line learning, augmented
by face-to-face tutoring by trained
business school alumni, delivered
through a network of physical hubs
provided by our partners.
Working with leading business schools to
ensure world-class programme design,
quality and relevance.

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The Challenge: Delivering high quality business
education at low cost and on a global scale

Demand Solution
Significant unmet demand for
business education from: Business Bridge
• Individuals 1. On-line self-paced learning
• Employers
• Society/Government 2. Delivered via our partners’
network of physical hubs
3. Augmented by face-to-face
Supply teaching from business school
Under-provision of business education alumni working pro-bono
reflects continuing challenges: 4. Leadership by the world’s top
• Access business schools
• Cost
• Scalability

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 Our Approach

Method Content Outcome

 Blended learning  High quality and action
– On-line orientated
– Face-to-face sessions
 4 Courses:
– Group work
– Sales
 In-depth course follow-up
– Marketing & Strategy
 Each course lasts 8 weeks – Finance
 On-line assessment – Making Things
Happen1
 Full set of:
– Knowledge
– Relevant skills
 Confidence to tackle
business challenges
 Successful participants
leave with a globally
recognised certificate

Demanding Learning Across Key Maximises Business

Commitment… Content Areas… Capabilities

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Note: 1 This course comprises project management and HR material
The Business Bridge System

Economic Economic
Exclusion Inclusion
Tutor-led
Pre-course classes
Entry Test Orientation On-line Assessment
Attend learning
Physical Post-course
Hub

• Follow-up sessions
• On-line tutor
discussion boards &
social media
• Networking events

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Who is The Business Bridge for?

Current target segment Future target segments

Aspiring Entrepreneurs • Job-seekers
 Early stage entrepreneurs • Corporates looking to
 Typically aged 20-30 up-skill entry-level staff
 Completed secondary education

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Phase 1: The Pilot (Q4 2009)

• 8 week ‘How to Win Sales’ course

Course • Target audience: aged 20-30, secondary education, involved in start-up
• 35 students in 2 locations: Cape Town and Johannesburg

• 6 tutors sourced via GIBS and UCT

Tutors • All working pro-bono
• Tutors successfully trained in a single day
• Learning consolidation sessions
Course follow-up
• Students connected to network via social media and graduate events

• High retention rate (86%)

Results
• Excellent test scores (56% achieved distinction)

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 Phase 2: 2010 To Date

Secured Established
Completed South
Pilot Course Lead Roll-
Business African NFP
Follow-up Out
Plan
Partner1 Company

Jan Feb Mar Apr May

Finalised SA Met Q2
Launched Started UK Board of fundraising
Pilot Film Entry Study Directors target of
£120k

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Note: 1 This is The Business Place, a South African NGO, who were also a key pilot partner
Phase 2: Remaining 2010 Goals

UK South Africa Other Markets

 Appoint additional1.5 FTEs  Q3 Roll-out with The  Run Q3 Ghana Pilot
(project manager, Business Place – 50 participants
administrator) – 5 branches  Final decision on UK
 Build course 2, How to Win – 125 participants market entry
Through Marketing  Further explore interest
 Add 2 more roll-out
 Develop on-line learning partners from:
platform – Ongoing discussions – Rwanda
with Standard Bank, – Uganda
 Test monitoring and
evaluation processes Small Enterprise – China
Development Agency – India
 Promote Business Bridge at and others
key global forums

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