Takeaways from the Social Business Models workshop
Mamading Ceesay
Wednesday was a great experience that left us tired, but happy! Hope
you've had a chance to start
processing some of what you learnt at the workshop.
I would like to invite people to share just one key
learning/idea/thought/takeaway from the workshop on
this thread.
For myself, it became very clear just how much still needs to be done
to align business models with the
triple bottom line (social, economic, environmental), and that's where
this group can make a real impact
by becoming a community of practice that has deep expertise in
facilitating/creating that alignment.
What was your takeaway?
--
Regards,
Mamading Ceesay
Twitter: http://twitter.com/evangineer
Blog: http://evangineer.agoraworx.com/blog/
Trine Moore
hi Everyone
ill do the intros later.
as to the take way, nothing to add to the story i told about the fish,,get out of the water,and the view changes significantly
trine
Trine Moore
Hannah Lewis
Thanks Mamading for starting this thread.
The biggest takeaway for me was the point about the "financial
feedback loop" – how where the money is coming from affects the
motivations of the business – i.e. if a social enterprise / third
sector organisation has two "customer" groups (beneficiaries and
funders) it is more likely to tailor its activities to suit what the
funders want than what the beneficiaries want, unless they provide it
with income too.
That raised some quite fundamental questions for me about what Remade
in Brixton's business model should be, how we should frame our offer.
Wanting to think about it in terms of what we offer the community
rather than what we offer authorities and funding bodies – although
the latter might provide revenue in the start-up stages. It also made
me feel we had made the right decision to become a CIC limited by
shares (rather than by guarantee). I can see a model in which
beneficiaries of our work become shareholders, co-owners.
The same evening I stumbled upon this research report from Nesta –
"The Ownership State" – http://www.nesta.org.uk/the-ownership-state/
... interesting reading in the light of the above! (it proposes that
public services should be co-owned by those who benefit from them)
Would be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this.
Thanks all for a mind-boggling day!
Best of luck with all your projects.
Hannah
Mamading Ceesay
>
> The same evening I stumbled upon this research report from Nesta –
> "The Ownership State" – http://www.nesta.org.uk/the-ownership-state/
> ... interesting reading in the light of the above! (it proposes that
> public services should be co-owned by those who benefit from them)
>
That's pretty consistent with my own view on this stuff, co-owned,
co-designed and co-operated. That's the only way to engineer out the
agency-principal problem that plagues nearly all of the current
organisations and institutions.
Feedback loops either make orgs better or less aligned with their
beneficiaries. These days, it tends to be less.
Mamading Ceesay
>
>
> Would be interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this.
>
Coincidentally, there's an article in last week's Economist on
reforming the centralised state called "The Great Giveaway" that
touches upon related matters from a policymaking perspective:
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14750203
Sol Medina Kalvøy
Hello all,
My take away from the workshop, was a BIG wake up call!
I was so excited to hear for the first time a group of people passionate about being a contribution and make a difference in this world. We are not alone anymore, and that means commitment and responsability.
And it gave me so much clarity the usage of the "Canvas" to develop my project "Tu Campo" - a project to enhance and develop Mexican Farmers by identifying opportunities in the land, develop skills through training, create awareness of the environment, sustainability and a profitable business through small cooperative units. And help through this to be a source of fair-trade, transparency, justice, enhance our culture and create ecological tourism in different areas of Mexico.
As Hannah mentioned enrol the community and develop a structure of cooperation and co-ownership is a great idea. Exciting to learn new ways on how to structure a Social Business.
I will keep on working on my project and share with you my steps. Any input is more than welcome. And I will be very happy to help others and learn from your projects.
Big thank you to Sofia, Alex & team!
Have a nice week and all the best. Sol (sole...@yahoo.com)
Soledad Medina Kalvøy (+44) 751 588 2870 |
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Alexander Osterwalder
Thanks for the great day last week.
My take-away: There is a need to develop some practical tools as a
community, in order to build the greatest business models beyond
profit...
Lot's to do! Exciting!
Best,
Alex
http://www.alexosterwalder.com
--
read about my new book here:
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com
--
Alexander Osterwalder, PhD
author, speaker & adviser on business model innovation
tel: +41 (0)79 616 97 19
1, chemin du Moty | CH-1026 Echandens | Switzerland
Mark RS
My main takeaway was the idea of using the canvas to prototype
different business models for new social enterprises. It seems a
really cool and useful way to explore possibilities and design the DNA
of a new enterprise - and to create new opportunities for innovation.
My second takeaway was the third party funding model, which explains,
beautifully, the tensions and flaws in this set up. From my experience
in charities these seem less of a problem in the early stages (energy
and vision of founders + small teams working closely together) but
really increase as the organisation grows and ages, as the world
changes, and as the organisation develops factions between fundraisers
and project workers.
Cheers
Mark