GUEST ENTRY

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There is a public call for tax relief and policy changes in Sweden to motivate corporations, as well as private donors, to support donations for research and charitable organisations (Regeringskansliet SOU 2009:59). Tax relief on charitable giving is the most important funding driver for the third sector in the UK and in the US.

Personally, I believe it would open up a tremendous opportunity also in Sweden to better integrate business with all of its stakeholders in society. It would be an important aspect of encouraging businesses to develop a broader and more efficient CSR strategy, in particular the SMEs, who currently may not think they can afford to do so.

Several high profile people have written articles in the daily newspapers to urge the government to vote for the proposition in order to stimulate the growth of social entrepreneurship. Among them is the director of the Fondation de Luxembourgh, Tonika Hirdman, in Dagens Industri on January 16^th. 

As much as I appreciate the proposal, in the debate things do get mixed up.  As a social entrepreneur, business is my focus. Not charity. The “social” aspect of my enterprise is that I wish to use my business acumen and my capital not only to generate a profit, but to actively strive to make a positive social change. It is in the mission of the company, in its measurements and affects all aspects of managing costs and income. It would also confuse the purpose of my operations, if what I do is labelled philanthropic, since I wish to reach a level of self-financing and profit where I can grow and develop just like other entrepreneurs.

In my role as consultant I have both started several social enterprises and guided other organisations that wish to contribute financially, but also with their products and services. They always want to make clear upfront that they do not wish to see these projects as philanthropy. They point out that they see it as taking their social responsibility.  Even so, in practice it is common that companies encourage employees and customers to fund raise for example, and that could benefit from the proposal.

For long-term engagement with the third sector though, I see two problems. First, the donor cannot expect anything in return. How do we then have a dialogue about the impact? Second, donations are an easy, but over time not very effective way for a business to engage with the third sector.

We need to call for additional economic incentives that consider the whole picture – today social enterprises often operate more like business than charity.

/Ruth Brännvall, Founder Njord Management Consulting Ltd

OBS! Ny lokal: Den här månaden går SE Bar av stapeln på Södra Teatern vid Mosebacke Torg (t-bana Slussen). Ses i baren kl 17.30! http://www.sodrateatern.com/sv/Bra-att-veta/Infor-besoket1/

Årets första SE Bar är på ingång, och denna gång gästas vi av Alec Carlberg och Kristina Blixt från kooperativet BASTA. Basta är ett fantastiskt exempel på hur man kan gå från ett liv i missbruk till ett som företagare – nu får vi chansen att höra om hur de byggt upp sin verksamhet, och vad de lärt sig under resans gång. Mycket att lära för alla SE’s out there med andra ord!

Basta är ett företag som i blygsam skala startades 1994 i Södertälje – då några personer beslöt sig för att starta en verksamhet som vänder sig till människor som vill sluta missbruka narkotika. Detta företag har idag vuxit till en hel koncern som ägs av dem som arbetar i den. Basta Gruppen består av omkring 150 personer som bor och arbetar på någon av företagets olika delar i Nykvarn, Borås eller Södertälje.  Alla boende har tidigare varit utslagna missbrukare, precis som de flesta på företagets ledningsfunktioner.

Basta driver numera också en yrkes- och entreprenörsutbildning. De flesta eleverna är ”drop outs” från skolor, irakiska flyktingar och människor som vill lämna sitt missbruk. Under 2009 gick tvåhundra elever den ettåriga utbildningen.

Basta är ekonomiskt bärkraftigt och tar inte emot några offentliga bidrag eller privata donationer. Varje år går företaget med vinst, vilken återinvesteras i verksamheterna.

Så kom på nästa SE Bar för att inspireras, diskutera och kontemplera tillsammans med oss! Och, nytt för i år: Vi behöver inte gå hem kl 19 prick om vi inte vill! Jippi!

När? onsdag 27 januari kl 17.30-19.00
Var? Södra Teatern, i baren, Mosebacke torg (t-bana Slussen)

GUEST ENTRY

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These words were spoken by one of the greatest leaders of our time. I fully agree, if you deep inside feel that something needs to be changed to the better, you must embody that change yourself in order to make a real difference in people’s daily lives.

It all started when I got back home to Sweden from a period living and studying Business and Mandarin in China. I had travelled around the South-East-region of Asia and saw the hardships that poverty created.  After my homecoming I ignited my passion, Africa’s Potential, during the Winter of 2007, when I received a Scholarship from SIDA, where my mission was to identify the characteristical features of potential entrepreneurs in the Ugandan village of Bubulo, and in corporation with Chalmers in Gothenburg install solar-panels in order to electrify the village and create job opportunities together with local entrepreneurs that weren’t just passive bystanders but active entrepreneurs. More than 150 entrepreneurial jobs were created and more than 3 000 people receive today water on a daily basis from a water-station which is driven by these solar-panels.

After my stay in Uganda, a relentless passion for going back to Sub-Sahara to “boost” more African entrepreneurs was initiated, due to the fact that I saw that the aid that reached these areas only killed entrepreneurship and was breeding inactivity in the Sub-Saharan societies.

During the year of 2010 Africa’s Potential will be involved in many “job-creating” projects in Sub-Sahara and especially East-Africa. I’m going to act as an Adviser for Stockholm School of Economics and their Business Labs international expansion to East-Africa. I’ll also be involved in a project regarding organizing the African Diaspora in Sweden when it comes to “brain-gain” to their home countries, as well as “match make” some of the Rwandan entrepreneurs I got to know in November with Swedish equivalents.

I’m also promoting the success stories of the African continent, which the western-oriented media channels very seldom publish or never promotes. There are plenty of success stories, but very few that reach the masses. My mission is also to make the public aware about the current aid-issue – that trade and not aid initiatives will empower and build the Sub-Sahara region.

This is my life-conviction, not a two or three year project, to “boost” local African entrepreneurs in order to increase competence, “brain gain” and trade to the Sub-Sahara, in the fight against poverty and corruption.

Please, don’t forget! The truth is that YOU also have the same ability to create “greater-good” to the societies’ most pressuring problems. All you have to do is to take that first initial step! 

Morakozee chaniii, (Thank you very much in Kinyarwanda)

/Emre Gürler, Africa’s Potential.

P.S. You can follow Africa’s Potential’s mission on Twitter, Facebook as well as Linked-In.

Alternative business models for good business are one of the main areas of focus for SE Forum. Read the latest debate article by SE Forum founder and board member Harry McNeil in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.