2011 was big year for me personally and for Wavelength. I turned 50 in January, an age at which you can no longer ignore the sound of time’s winged chariot. Middle aged I most definitely am but I have no intention of settling into it still less acting it! Still too much to do and fun to be had doing it all.
The end of the beginning
A start up is an idea in search of a business model and, with our membership club
Connect we have found ours. We bring together corporate and social enterprise leaders and – as equals – they build their leadership insights and practices. Our cross subsidy model means that social innovators get access to a quality of learning and connectivity too often only available to the leaders of big business.
“Not so much leading as cage fighting”
2012 will be tough for social entrepreneurs. One describes his CEO role as “not so much leading as cage fighting”. Through Wavelength we will continue to provide our members with world class support to help them survive and thrive in tough times – to grow, make money, be great places to work and achieve verifiable social impact.
The UK’s social enterprise intermediaries must get their act together this year. Way too much squabbling and bitching in 2011 and a big failure to model the collaborative business strategies so badly needed by grassroots social innovators. Membership organisations must never lose sight of the simple truth that if their members are unable or unwilling to pay for services then they are built on sand - no matter what the Cabinet Office wants or is willing to pay for.
"Products are easy. Solutions are hard"
In 2012 we will continue to understand better and promote “corporate social innovation” – big companies ditching bullshit CSR agendas to bring affordable products and services to the poor.
In December I went to Kenya where, on the shores of Lake Victoria, German lighting company Osram is experimenting with solar powered
O-Hubs which provide battery powered lamps for the region’s poor. Their products are half the price of kerosene lamps, environmentally friendly and don’t, unlike kerosene fumes, ruin kids’ eyes.
They face many engineering, cultural and pricing challenges. Initially sceptical of Osram’s intentions my host, electrical engineer Oscar Ominde, is a passionate and advocate for his company’s model of corporate social innovation. “Products are easy,” he told me, “solutions are hard”.
I love the determination and talent of people like Oscar and his peers in other multi-nationals like Danone and Grundfos. They eschew the ever present hyperbole in the social entrepreneur world and I’ve no doubt that their pragmatic, evidence based ambitions will bring game changing services to the bottom of the pyramid.
Solidarity with Grameen
The truly unexpected development of 2011 was my involvement in the
Friends of Grameen, an international solidarity network set up in response to the Bangladeshi Government’s at first bizarre and then increasingly sinister attacks on Professor Muhammad Yunus.
In May he was forced to resign as boss of the Grameen Bank. There is much speculation about why Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her cronies want to bring down Bangladesh’s best known and loved son. Is it that he and not she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? Revenge for Yunus having considered entering politics a few years ago? Or is it as simple as she and her family wanting access to the channels which reach millions of citizens who buy Grameen products and services?
Throughout his annus horribilis, Yunus has carried himself with enormous dignity and patience. He continues – with an energy which leaves me panting and trailing in his wake – to spread his message about the failings of capitalism and his alternative social business model.
"Making innovation flourish"
2012 will be my third year on the board of
Nesta. 2011 was intriguing as we picked our way along the complex journey from ‘quango’ to independent foundation and appointed a new CEO, Geoff Mulgan, for these changing times.
Much great innovative stuff relies on our willingness to invest and back where others fear to tread. But the board and our cracking staff all know we can be and do so much more. In summer 2012, after the legals are all sorted, we will unveil Nesta 3.0 and take our work to promote innovation to a whole new level.
So, wherever you are in the social innovation movement I wish you well for 2012. My advice is ignore pessimists and only read the sports sections of the papers. The only prediction that I’m sure will come true is that the unexpected will happen to you this year!
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