CLEARLYSO EVENT: Social entrepreneurs must break down barriers of nationality

The international social entrepreneurship movement is being held back because of language and cultural barriers.

Speaking at yesterday's ClearlySo annual social business conference, Damien Roussat, chief technical officer of the French person-to-person micro-lending site Babyloan, said: 'We need to learn how to cross language and cultural barriers to truly turn these phenomena of social enterprises into an interconnected movement.'

He said: 'I heard a discussion that raised the fact at international conferences you only see Anglo-Saxon people.

'And I have to say French people say the same. We say that we only see French people.

'The potential for this as an international phenomenon has not been fully realised.'

• A date has been announced for next year's first-ever European social investment conference. The conference, which will be a partnership between ClearlySo and Good Deals, is to be held on November 9 and 10 2010. For more information click here.