There are two advantages to being the last person to blog about Voice 10, the Social Enterprise Coalition's annual conference. One is that you've had time to reflect on what was said and the other, is that you are spared the hassle of keying in all the best bits.
The best speaker by a mile was Phillip Blond. He's the first person I've heard publicly say what I've long thought: that tomorrow, every enterprise will be a social enterprise. Quite rightly in my view, he says that community ownership will become universal, albeit in differing forms. It's what real democracy is about! I was not surprised to spot that he's left handed.
1 comment:
I'm glad to hear that Phillip thinks that, I've been pestering him since his rise as a Red Tory about the issue of ownership and it's importance for ordinary people.
Two major issues for social enterprise getting public support as a sector - financing (Cliff Mills' article for Mutuo, 'funding the future' deals with this) and internal structures (Will Davies' book for Demos on employee ownership, is interesting on this issue).
Though structures such as CICs might get over the issue of financing without being dependent on public funds (big issue with coming cuts), unless there's a vision of empowering jobs with democratic participation, the sector risks losing potential allies...
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