Enterprise Planning
“Whenever society is stuck or has an opportunity to seize a new opportunity, it needs an entrepreneur to see the opportunity and then to turn that vision into a realistic idea and then a reality and then, indeed, the new pattern all across society. We need such entrepreneurial leadership at least as much in education and human rights as we do in communications and hotels. This is the work of social entrepreneurs.”
Bill Drayton, Founder of Ashoka
The aim of Sustain our Nation is to provide initial funding for a social, sustainable enterprise, which will have a lasting positive effect on its local community.
Successful enterprises require prudent business and financial management so the business plan will be an essential element of your entry. All organisations need to be financially viable otherwise they will cease to function; by devising a plan and setting goals you will be better equipped to identify potential problems and address them in order to make a success of your venture
Although a business plan may sound daunting, it is essentially a statement of your aims and states how you propose to achieve your goals.
By setting up a social enterprise, you must naturally consider the ethics of your venture in terms of the ‘triple bottom line’ framework. This places equal emphasis on social, environmental and financial considerations (or people, planet and profit). Demonstrating the impact of your social innovation project in these areas will be the key to your success in the competition.
Finally, it is essential to be realistic. Identifying skills gaps and potential hurdles, as well as the ways you intend to tackle these issues, will only add to the credibility of your application.
The questions in the SoN entryapplication form aim to cover all the information required by a business plan. So, although there is no requirement to submit a separate plan as such, producing it at this stage will provide a practical long-term strategy for your successful venture.
Useful links
www.princes-trust.org.uk/need_help/the_business_programme/business_guides.aspx
www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?r.s=sl&r.lc=en&topicId=1073869162 – independent, practical advice on business planning
www.businessballs.com/freebusinessplansandmarketingtemplates.htm - a free resource providing a wealth of business advice
www.insight.bt.com/Journeys/Thinking/ – business advice from BT
office.microsoft.com/en-gb/results.aspx?qu=business+plan – Microsoft Office tools for business planning
Glossary
Social innovation refers to innovation which has a social purpose - new strategies, concepts, ideas, objects, products spaces, spaces, systems, services and organisations that meet social and societal needs of all kinds. It can lead to new ways of doing things linked to social change that serves community led, rather than profit led values. For example, new micro credit or distance learning services; the redesign of working conditions and education; and community developments or and health services that aim to overturn existing conventions and behaviour.
Social Innovation as a term has numerous meanings. It refers to many social processes of mass innovation, such as open source methods and techniques and ultimately any innovation that extends and strengthens communities. Not all social innovation is delivered by designers, but it is possible for design to make a difference. Design can add value through sense-making and other creative activities to generate social innovation, usually connected to social design (rather than market led) processes and methods.
Social Enterprise is a type of business that is driven by a social mission; or a social organisation or charity, which trades in goods or services for a social purpose, and which generates profits to help fund the core social purpose. As opposed to commercial enterprises which are profit driven, a social enterprise often places equal importance on people, planet and profit. A key factor in defining a social enterprise is how the profits generated are shared/distributed?
Some social enterprises use the profit (or surplus) from the core trading activity to support social aims (whether or not related to the activity of the organisation, as in a charity shop). Sometimes the business itself accomplishes the social aim through its operation, for instance by employing disadvantaged people (social firms) or lending to businesses that may have difficulty in securing investment from mainstream lenders.
Social enterprises can be profit-making businesses set up to tackle a social or environmental need, or they can be linked to businesses set up by charities and governments, that seek to generate a profit making stream. They often use a blended value business model and combine a revenue-generating business stream with a social-value-generating structure or component, which may also attract income from governmental bodies (grant funding).
Social enterprises have been described as 'not-for-profit’ organisations, as their profits are not (at least primarily) distributed to financial investors. Others dislike the term as it suggests that social enterprises have an un- businesslike attitude to money. An ingenious solution to this quandary is to call them “for more-than-profit' organisations (a term used at the Social Enterprise Institute Conference, Heriot-Watt University, in 2003).