Det nystartade svenska nätverket Cradle Net arrangerar stort C2C-event 29 april

Ur pressmeddelandet:

Kan du tänka dig en värld där allt du gör och konsumerar ger positiva ekologiska fotavtryck?
En värld utan avfall?
Cradle to Cradle gör den världen möjlig.

Den Nya Eko-industriella Revolutionen börjar torsdagen den 29 april kl 18.00 på Konstfack. Då får vi för första gången i Sverige höra den världsberömde tyske kemiprofessorn Michael Braungart, av Time Magazine utnämnd till ”Planetens hjälte”, berätta om det banbrytande konceptet Cradle to Cradle.

Cradle to Cradle (C2C) är en ny men självklar tanke; att förvandla avfall till näring i eviga kretslopp. I naturen existerar inget avfall – varför ska vi människor vara sämre?

Några exempel på C2C-produkter är glasspapper som smälter i rumstemperatur, bryts ner biologiskt och innehåller växtfrön. En fabrik som drivs av förnybar energi och som släpper ut renare vatten och luft än vad som tas in. Blöjor som du kan lägga i komposten och som kan bli biogas.

Under kvällen visar klädskaparen Matilda Wendelboe m. fl. upp världens första Cradle to Cradle-kollektion – kläder som du kan slänga i skogen eller ge tillbaka och få ut nya efter användning.

Dessutom finns möjlighet att delta i workshops med kreatörer, entreprenörer och organisationer som alla strävar mot nya lösningar där Waste = Food.

Tid: 29/4, kl 18-22
Plats: Konstfack, Stockholm
Begränsat antal platser!

För mer information och hur du anmäler dig till eventet, besök cradlenet.se

Special Feature on Social Entrepreneurship in McKinsey Quarterly

In recent years it has become increasingly common for private companies to carry out activities that previously has been done by the public authorities. The Swedish government states that a development of new ways of carrying out already existing services is desirable whenever this creates new opportunities that take advantage of individual initiatives. However, in connection with these new opportunities, related especially to public activities, sometimes the commercial interests take over in a way that isn’t desirable.

This is the principal reason why it in Sweden since 2006 exists a possibility to start and hold a limited company with limited profit distribution. The new type of stock company is voluntary but has led to an extension in the Swedish law for limited companies (ABL). A whole new chapter (number 32) has been added and stock companies with limited profit distibution is now a fact. Every new limited company with limited profit distribution should carry the denomination ‘AB Svb’ (Aktiebolag med Särskild Vinstutdelningsbegränsning) and once created, these kind of limited companies cannot go from AB Svb to normal limited companies (AB) which makes it impossible to change the corporate category.

The new company category is intended first and foremost for activities in the areas of education and health care but can also be used in other areas. However, there is no law indicating that these areas must be managed by limited companies with limited profit distribution.

Characteristics of the AB Svb

• A company with a dividend restriction will be a kind of special private limited company
• In a limited company with a dividend restriction only limited dividends are accepted.
• During the period from one Annual General Meeting until the next Annual General Meeting the dividends and other transfers of value made in the company should not exceed an amount equivalent to the rate – calculated as a state loan rate plus one percentage point – of the capital that the shareholders have contributed to the company as payment for shares.
• General court shall decide on compulsory liquidation of an AB Svb that has made an illegal transfer of value or any other unlawful transfer.

Internationally there are various examples of companies, similar to the Swedish AB Svb, with a restrictive view of the possibilities to carry out business. Among others, in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark the governments’ have restricted the possibilities of private ownership in areas concerning health. Moreover, in the UK exists the corporate category ‘Community Interest Company’ (CIC) that ensures that the public funds actually reaches their recipients.

Thus, at the international level the social economy is getting more and more attention and there seem to be a movement towards the development and promotion of not-for-profit activities. In Sweden there is still a lot to accomplish and for example only a few hospitals, among them Ersta and the hospital of the Red Cross Organisation, are operated by not-for-profit organisations.

Fore more information see the Swedish law for limited companies – Aktiebolagslag (2005:551) and the British Community Interest Companies.

Monday Morning is Scandinavia’s biggest independent think tank and was established in October 2003 on the Danish government’s initiative to turn Denmark into one of the world’s most innovative societies. The main objective of the think tank is to enable the navigation and functioning of key decision makers in order to face today’s complex society where the need of shared solutions and common agreements is decisive. By enabling the navigation it is also said that the risks can be turned into opportunities.   

Since 2008 Monday Morning has focused mainly on the innovation in the welfare state and until 2010 the think tank will work on the basis of two fields: welfare entrepreneurs and welfare innovators. The welfare entrepreneurs is a strategic task force that will formulate a national strategy for social entrepreneurship in Denmark while the welfare innovators is a general initiative that highlights the challenges and solutions in the public sector in order to enable a social improvement.

Lars Jannick Johansen, director and COO of Monday Morning, has in his presentation on Welfare entrepreneurs given a small introduction of Monday Morning’s views on social entrepreneurship. According to the think tank, social enterprises can be seen as hybrid organizations based on their engagement in civil society, their social focus on the public sector and the business approach of the private corporations. Jannick Johansen expresses that: the social enterprises are new, independent and professional organizations created by social entrepreneurs with main purpose of improving societal conditions and create social value based on new developments of services or products and reinvest profits in the societal cause.

Furthermore, Monday Morning states that the social entrepreneurship adds both social and economic value by, on one hand improving the welfare and the social capital and on the other creating wealth, mobilising resources and saving money. To this, Jannick Johansen adds a parallel to the commercial entrepreneurship and expresses that the social entrepreneurship also can be a driving force of innovation and creative competition. Consequently, the key question of Monday Morning and certainly most other social networks and enterprises  is whether we can make social entrepreneurship a key innovation driver for the welfare society.      

It is always a bless to come across brilliant content on important issues. Academic Earth’s web page is worth checking out, it is especially useful if you are in need of academic perspectives on Social Entrepreneurship!

Debatten om biståndet fortsätter. 

http://www.newsmill.se/artikel/2009/08/23/dags-en-mer-uppriktig-debatt-om-bistandet

Och det behövs. Inom biståndet finns mycket som behöver förbättras. Gunilla Carlsson har genomfört en mängd viktiga ändringar. 

Fler behövs. Fattigdom kan aldrig bekämpas utan ekonomisk tillväxt. En ekonomisk tillväxt som är hållbar, miljömässigt och socialt. Det bör genomsyra biståndsarbetet och utlandsmyndigheternas arbete. 

Socialt entreprenörskap, jobbskapande och hållbart företagande bör stå i centrum för utvecklingspolitikens genomförande. Detta är enda sättet för utvecklingsländer att få ekonomi att bygga sin infrastruktur, skolor och sjukhus.  

Se på Grameen bank, se på Jamiboora och inspireras till riktig förändring.

Alltså: Fler investeringar. Stöd till entreprenörskap. Tillgång till kapital. Sprid kompetens, kunnande och teknologier. Rättvisare handelsvillkor.  

/Harry McNeil

Master thesis by Hanna von Schantz & Celeste deCasas, Stockholm University, Sweden, Jan 2009

Do well and do good – a study of the business climate for social businesses in Sweden is the title of a newly written master thesis by Hanna von Schantz and Celeste deCasas from Stockholm University. The thesis explores the business climate through the eyes of seven social businesses by identifying the most critical factors impacting their development and success.

“Much of the focus in Sweden has previously been on social businesses related to co-operative or community based models, but we wanted to shed some light on the new generation of social entrepreneurs, those who use a business venture to generate a social or environmental impact”, says author Hanna von Schantz. The authors refer to this area as “business based social entrepreneurship”.

The participants in the study identified both inefficiencies and opportunities in the current business climate. Despite the challenges and the immature market for social entrepreneurs most of the interviewees felt optimistic about their future.

The thesis “Do well and do good” is written in Swedish, but for any questions or information in English please contact: hannavonschantz@gmail.com

Read the thesis here!

By Svenne Junker (eco wannabe), SE Forum

Taking responsibility is hip. It fits well with the notion of a trendy person to buy organic food, eco cloths, be vegetarian, ride a bike to work, do yoga, buy organic sun trips etc.

But no matter how trendy it may sound – it is not sustainable consumption.

New research shows that people, who seem to live a ‘good life’ in the modern society, who are complying with the social norms of environmental friendliness, are even worse to the nature than lower class people, who don’t eat ecological food and don’t use garbage disposal.

Hence, it is once more clear: much less consumption and travel is the only sustainable action. There is no compromise.

Cool does not equal good.

References:
SR P1, Vetenskapsradion

SE Forum, or AISE as it was called in 2004, was founded by Harry McNeil and Carl Jonas Michanek. This is their story:

– Me and Harry started AISE (which is now SE Forum) to learn more about the concept of Social Entrepreneurship and to be able to make a social difference in the world through the power of entrepreneurship. We felt that
a new platform for our generation was needed, because the institutional platforms all seemed too old school and bureaucratic. That was the beginning of this beautiful journey! Says Jonas Michanek.

– Today I am mostly occupied with the innovation consulting firm Idélaboratoriet that I started ten years ago, and taking care of my son, Lowe.

Harry has moved towards consulting and freelancing and is currently managing the Outreach project within SE Forum.