Mixing with the future of business

Business people sometimes get a bum rap; just out to generate a huge profit no matter what the cost is the charge they often face. But a new generation is making strides in overcoming such negative perceptions. Who is this band of forward thinkers? Social entrepreneurs that's who.

I'm writing this blog after spending a day mixing with around 1,000 of the inspirational characters at Voice 08, the Social Enterprise Coalition's annual conference.

I've been to plenty of conferences in my time but few compare with the energy that oozed from Liverpool's brand new BT Convention Centre today.

A fashion show featuring models parading ethical clothing, a street dance troop from Birmingham and live on stage t-shirt printing - all of them social enterprises - were just some of the acts delegates were treated to.

"Nothing can hold us back", proclaimed the coalition's CEO Jonathan Bland this afternoon as he wound up day one of the event. "We are here to harness the power of the market to create the social and environmental change our world needs," he continued.

An over the top statement from a tree hugging hippy you may think but I beg to differ. They are not tree huggers, they are not even charities but what they are are businesses. Proper companies who care about making money, who want to make a profit. The difference is the revenue raised doesn't go to faceless shareholders; it benefits society.

The UK is currently home to 55,000 social enterprises turning over a collective £27bn and employing 500,000 people. Think they're tree huggers now?

In the past, the call to bring about community and environmental change has been driven by the public demand for ethical products. But now it's businesses which are driving the revolution.

Social enterprises aren't new; firms have been doing it successfully for years - The Big Issue, Cafe Direct and Divine Chocolate to name a few. That record looks set to continue. Can 1,000 people at a single conference in Liverpool be wrong?

You may accuse me of overstating the situation but I'm happy to argue my point. Social enterprises are reinventing the rules of business and competing in mature markets with corporates that have been playing the game for years. That trend combined with the public's ever increasing desire for ethics and transparency from the companies they deal with, means that far from being the exception, social enterprises are likely to one day become the norm.