Social Entrepreneurship - A new networking service for Social Enterprise - Professional Motivational Keynote Speaker - Robert Ashton - Social entrepreneurship

When Robert was in London, speaking at the launch of Network 2012 a new network service for social enterprises, voluntary organisations and charities that focuses on supporting disadvantaged people into enterprise, he started by:

citing the example of Belfast Black Cabs, one of the UK’s first social enterprises. Catholics released from internment couldn’t get jobs as most employers were Protestant, so set up a co-operative to run black cabs. They operated in the Catholic areas and avoid ed the need for locals to use Protestant bus services.

Robert is a committed campaigner against stereotyping and stigma: “We live in a sick society. There’s no trust so we have cameras everywhere, - no tolerance – break a window and you get an ASBO, not a telling off. Pinch a bottom and suddenly you’re a sex offender.”

“Government labels and marginalises those on the fringes of society, then demands inclusion; you’re no longer slow, you have a learning difficulty. You’re no longer eccentric, you’re mentally ill….

and because funded programmes exist we wear those labels to get the support, then wonder why no one lets us in or employs us!”

Social enterprise, he argued, lets people take control. In fact almost every person starting a business is driven more by what they want to change than what they want to make. One day, every successful business will be a social enterprise putting people before profit, passion before productivity and proudly protecting its vision and purpose.

The signs of the growth in social enterprise are everywhere, he said, quoting from his extensive network of contacts which include artist Anne, passionate about Koi Carp, who refuses to paint an ugly fish, and Simon, the head hunter who helps people to get better jobs.

In the 1980s, it was quality that made the difference, then in the 90s, it was service. Robert believes that today, social conscience and how you spend your profits are the only ways small businesses can differentiate themselves from the corporate giant. Social enterprise is the way forward: “Those planning to use social enterprise as their vehicle to self respect, financial flexibility and societal change need to recognise that almost any enterprise could benefit from becoming a social enterprise. Do it now and do it well, because if you wait, someone else will step into the space you’ve set your heart on occupying.”

He had agreed to speak at the launch of Network 2012, because: “...deep down, I know that social enterprise is the future of British enterprise and perhaps the best way to start healing our sick society.”

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