What Keeps You Awake At Night?

One of the themes of last week's World Entrepreneur Society 2009 Summit was “What keeps you awake at night?”

A lot of varied and interesting discussions have sprung up around this theme and, inevitably, the answers are very personal to individuals and specific to their businesses. It is interesting, however, to notice both the common threads in people's answers and acknowledge how few of us are getting any rest being kept awake, as it seems we all are, by one thing or another.

Just to join the bandwagon:
In no particular order, here's my Top 10 :

1) Wondering if there is really a specific place in the economy for 'Social Enterprise' or whether all Enterprise must become inherently more social?

2) Fear of missed opportunities (for me, much more frightening than 'fear of failure')

3) The dissonance between what I think is the bravest, boldest and best course of action vs. that which I feel I have the confidence and skills to pursue

4) Reading my RSS feeds

5) A constant string of 'To Do Tomorrows' popping into my head

6) Wondering what action I'll take if the recession makes raising this additional funding impossible / Wondering if I would recognise when it was time to give up and move on

7) A near obsessive checking of Social Networking sites

8) A veracious appetite for personal study. Distance courses, factual books, language studies, how-to websites, things which I can't make space during the day for but really want to spend time on

9) Deadlines / late nights / early flights which mean I just miss getting to bed altogether

10) Though truly disturbing how little it now affects me, occasionally I'm kept awake by the obscene amount of caffeine I like to consume during the day

Although if i'm honest, 9 times out of 10, it's No.3.

Thought for the day...

"Forty billion working hours are lost each year in Africa due to the need to travel long distances to collect safe drinking water"

(Cosgrove and Rijsberman 1998)

Red Button Design Pitch Published in Educational Textbook.

As you likely know, Red Button Design have twice appeared on BBC2's hit Business Show "The Dragons' Den" showcasing ROSS and seeking the necessary backing with which to launch the product.

What you may not know is that, as a direct result of the highly successful pitch James and I gave on the original episode of the show, I have had the opportunity to collaborate on a number of textbooks and for-schools initiatives to teach entrepreneurship, confident public speaking and language skills. Not least of which is the BBC's own Dragons' Den educational tie-in which has been live for 6 months now. More recently, however, one of our other projects, a Heinemann English Textbook, has made it to the publishers!

Chapter six of "Building Skills in English" covers topics including the expression of ideas, emotive language and vocabulary choice, non-verbal communication, and presentation tips; all using our original pitch, as televised, for the ROSS. (pg 135 - 153)

As such, I'd like my former teachers to take heart! As much of a handful as I may have been in the classroom, something obviously stuck and I am very proud to now be presented as a 'good example' rather than fulfilling the equally valid, yet less prestigious, role of 'terrible warning'.

Text Building Skills in English: Student Book Bk. for 11 - 14 year olds is now available to purchase from Amazon, WHSmith, Waterstones (and others) in the UK.

Amanda is a finalist in 'SHE' Magazine's "Inspiring Women Awards"

Amanda has been named as one of 3 finalists in The 'Pioneer' category of SHE Magazine's "Inspiring Women Awards".

According to the magazine: 'The Pioneer' is
"a woman who has had a groundbreaking impact on medical science or social development."

The winners of each category will be invited to a celebratory lunch in May, hosted by SHE's Editor Sian Rees and attended by special guests and celebrities. A full list of winners, photos from the event and a photoshoot with the shortlisted women will be published in the June issue of SHE magazine; visit the website in May to see video coverage of the awards ceremony and a special peek ‘behind the scenes' on the day.

We think the winners are due to be announced in the next week, so to ensure that you know as soon as we know add this blog to your RSS reader!

Don't RSS yet? Find out how

Red Button Design finally do YouTube!

I would like to announce the launch of our YouTube Channel.

Much of our collected media has already been retrospectively uploaded for your instant gratification. However, we hope to make available updated shots of the prototype, film from our travels to trial sites and launch video blogging, very shortly.

How Bank of Scotland & The Sunday Times got it so wrong.

Today is the deadline for the Bank of Scotland £6 million, Social Entrepreneur Awards in association with the Sunday Times.

Some months ago, amongst a flurry of PR, and a hum of excitement from the Social Enterprise Community, BOS & The Sunday Times announced with open arms that "Whether your organisation is a charity, voluntary organisation, church or any other not-for-profit organisation, large or small you are eligible for these awards"

Hang on ...
any other not-for-profit organisation?

I have long been of the unwavering opinion that so·cial en·ter·prise (n.) is responsibly-profitable enterprise* and that as long as that organistaion is dedicated to creating social value, its structure is unimportant. A quick check with the Social Enterprise Coalition and Social Enterprise Magazine indicates the consensus falls firmly on my side.

I, however, don't have £6 million to donate to the cause and, sadly, those who do at Bank of Scotland are only recognising the social benefit of what is described in their Ts and Cs as:

"not-for-profit organisations, meaning organisations which are not capable of distributing profits generated by the organisation or capital back to shareholders, members or other participants in the organisation;"

A short sighted approach if ever there was one. Non-profits, as the definition above testifies, cannot release capital. This, you might speculate, would put off investors and you'd see a 5x ROI on that guess. Not being able to raise finance through investment leaves non-profits on the scrounge. So in this sense I see the appeal of offering millions of pounds in prize money to an organisation that can't raise it's cash any other way. BUT, and here is the point that so often gets missed, how sustainable is this? What happens when th organisation needs more cash down the line? Just how scalable are non-profits and are they really going to contribute to the growth of the economy in the same way that a Social Enterprise producing equal social value, only constituted in a way that makes them eligible for investment capital, would?

Whether structured as non-profits or for-profits, social enterprises should be measured by their ability to tackle pressing problems with innovative solutions and their capacity to grow and scale whilst exponentially improving the status quo.

Are bank of Scotland supporting scalable Social Enterprise?
No.

Are they likely to discover and finance the next "Divine Chocolate" or "Big Issue"
No.

Both Divine Chocolate (Enterprising Solutions "Social Enterprise of the Year" 2007 ) and The Big Issue (John Bird, Ernst & Young "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" 2008) are incorporated as Limited Companies and are therefore capable of "distributing profits back to shareholders". Consequentially this would render them both ineligible for qualification as a "Social Enterprise" under The Bank of Scotland / Sunday Times definition.

It is extremely disappointing to see that the UK is still so backwards in its thinking regarding Social Enterprise. If we are ever to take a lead in this vital sector it needs to be universally recognised that Social Enterprise is not a synonym for non-profit, and there is no difference between social value created by donor funds and social value created with internally generated surplus.

An Urgent Matter Of Human Development & Human Dignity.

"Dear Friends,

Water is essential for life. Yet many millions of people around the world face water shortages. Many millions of children die every year from water-borne diseases and drought regularly afflicts some of the world's poorest countries. The world needs to respond much better. We need to increase water efficiency, especially in agriculture. We need to free women and girls from the daily chore of hauling water, often over great distances. We must involve them in decision-making on water management. We need to make sanitation a priority. This is where progress is lagging most. And we must show that water resources need not be a source of conflict. Instead, they can be a catalyst for cooperation. Significant gains have been made but a major effort is still required. that is why this year marks the beginning of the 'Water for Life' Decade. Our goal is to meet the internationally agreed targets for water and sanitation by 2015, and to build the foundations for further progress in the years beyond.

This is an urgent matter of human development and human dignity. Together we can provide safe, clean water to all the world's people. The world's water resources are our lifeline for survival and for sustainable development in the 21st century. Together, we must manage them better."

- Kofi Annan,

This statement was issued on World Water Day, 22nd March, 2005 but sadly is just as applicable now, 4 years later. To watch the video clip, click the photograph above.

World Water Day is held on March 22nd annually, focusing on a different water issue each year.