On the Contrary

My brother invited me to a corporate do for a major pharmaceutical sales company. I expected it to be the antithesis of the events I've been used to in the past 15+ years; campaigning launches, charity AGMs and social enterprise conferences, by and large. And it was a departure in many respects, mainly on account of the budget, but it turns out drugs reps are human too and the conversations were not so radically different. I realised how, whoever I'm talking to, whatever their background, I'm playing devil's advocate.

I got chatting to the first guy I met, Pete, after getting picked up. He was a really friendly bloke and we were just making small talk about their business and then my line of work. I explained how we were a business, looking to make our own money to reinvest, but aiming to make a real impact on the lives of unemployed and financially excluded people.

'We're in a similar business, then.' Pete said, enthusiastically.

It was my brother who filled the surprised silence with a surprised 'Really?'.

'Yeah. We save lives. That's our business.'

'But you could hardly say we're not for profit. Not in any way. Everything is about profit.' Whatever approach my brother takes to his obviously highly effective sales pitch, diplomacy and toeing the line are clearly not his style.

At this point, I should point out that we'd been flown to Italy for a weekend-long, all expenses paid, awards trip to the high flyers (best sellers) in the company. We were on route from Pisa airport to the 4- or 5-star hotel on the coast. This is also as good a point as any to mention that Pete, we later realised, was the host of the whole event. So, here I was set up in opposition to everything the company stood for - not something I'd intended but with hindsight maybe it was inevitable.

(One Christmas a few years back when I worked at The Big Issue, the family was talking about jobs. My mum was working for Boots when it suddenly occurred to me what a rounded group of careers we'd chosen. I pointed out that when it comes to testing and marketing new drugs: One tested them, one sold them, and I campaigned against them.' More recently, in diabetic older age, my dad's joined the party and seems to have started taking his fair share of them.)

So, at the Gala dinner on Saturday night my brother and I were particularly proud that we'd got a mention in Pete's speech as he defended how the company 'looks after patients first, then the profits follow'. We congratulated ourselves for making an impact at least, ('raising his profile', my brother called it), and then decided that if all else fails, Clean Slate should at least be able to help my brother find a new job.

It was probably a bit ill-advised after all the free booze but we decided to call Pete over. I wanted to set the story straight. I'm not anti-profit - far from it. Chasing it makes social enterprises dynamic, responsive and good value. It's just we don't pass it onto individuals or splash out tens or hundreds of thousands on events like this one.

In fact, when I'm out with public sector managers, it's normally me extolling the virtues of chasing a surplus, business performance disciplines and staff engagement. These are all things that this Italian jaunt was about - although I did point out to my brother that their drugs might save lives, but could maybe save more lives if they didn't spend quite so much on reward trips, bonuses and share dividends. (Few social enterprises also have to disguise the business they work in for fear of violent reprisals from activists, although The Big Issue did receive some very threatening letters from animal rights groups.)

I'm always seen to be on the other side of the fence. I quite like that position but it disguises the pragmatism of social enterprise and how much it shares with both corporate business and the public and not-for-profit sectors. It raises the bar and, as I said, people in big business are human too and if you sew the slightest seed of doubt (if only about perception), sometimes it can lead to Nescafe or Cadbury's Fair Trade coffee or chocolate.

Not sure there will ever be a drugs company that will satisfy everyone's interpretation of ethical or even social enterprise but the weekend got me thinking. My brother and I also acknowledged that private sector companies of all types could apply this rather US-interpretation of social business; waste disposal (public health and sanitation), book publishers (literacy) and even, god help us, the banks (wealth creation - if you have any money in the first place, at least). So, for the time being, I'm happy to offer the voice of dissent.

The X Factor

I didn't expect to end the week feeling like Simon Cowell. After all, on Monday I had very little in the diary and was focussed on covering Carole, Clean Slate's Ops Director, getting our 3rd birthday plans underway and keeping an eye on the shop, so to speak.

By Monday afternoon, however, I was in discussions about how I could be the face of financial inclusion to promote Quids in!, our money management magazine for people on low incomes. We want to build on its 140,000 sales to develop new products to help people look after their dough and fend off approaches from loan sharks and high interest lenders. There are campaigns to be run, events to put together and a Quids in! Members Club on Facebook to get going. I even got myself on Twitter. Twice. One for each hat. (@ontheslate and @yourquids in, if you're interested.)

It sounds very earnest but it's starting to be fun. The challenge is making these worthy and frankly middle-class intentions of any interest to people at the wrong end of 'less well off'. It's no mean feat pulling off a genuinely tabloid magazine, especially when it's sold to managers in the public and third sectors. We tie ourselves in knots ticking the boxes of political correctness while keeping things earthy. The near naked bodies on our healthy saver postcards raised a few eyebrows too.

Tuesday I went through a contract with one of Clean Slate's workless Temp Workers, Ugo, who we're helping to become a professional artist. I ran through how we'd front the investment to pay for materials and his time, how we'd represent him to retailers and customers, and handle the in and outs of the enterprise while he grows it to a point where he can go it alone if he wants to. I realised we were talking about a kind of record deal. Right down to the haggling over how much of the split of profits goes to the artist or the investor.

It wasn't part of the week's plan but it was one of those opportunities that social enterprises can make happen when various things line up. I'd been catching up with Bath Abbey on progress since they'd raised the £20k for us, (now approaching £25k), when I casually asked if we should approach Ugo about producing some canvasses of the Abbey for sale to the congregation. That's a win win win: progress, employment through enterprise, and ongoing income to Ugo and Clean Slate.

By great chance, the variation on a screen print process that Ugo uses means he can reproduce the artworks and produce them to scale. And they look phenomenal. Last week, Clean Slate directors had an away day and we said our role was not to find workless people jobs but to match them to the right jobs. We're so on the right lines with Ugo. And with our new venture, Clean Slate TalentShop.

So, the canvasses hit shops next Tuesday. Well, they'll be on display and on sale at Bath Abbey (and via our website, if I can get the technology working). And then we'll wait and see if Ugo and Clean Slate prove we have the X Factor.

Praise Indeed!

The good people of Bath Abbey raised £20,000 for Clean Slate on Easter Sunday. I received a call on the Thursday before Easter to ask if I could link what we do to the Christian message and it didn't take long. Being 'Clean Slate', and all. So, I wrote down a few lines about putting the sins of the past behind and new beginnings, and handed over to the Rector. I didn't think any more of it until I got the phone call to say not only how much had been pledged but that it had been done in 90 seconds. What an endorsement.

Something chimed with the congregation louder than just the neat link between the Easter theme and how we give people the opportunity to put their past behind them and prove their worth through honest work.

Whatever our beliefs, we're not immune or removed from the world around us. A sense of impoverishment descended on us with the so-called 'Credit Crunch' way before hardship hit most people, except those affected by redundancies in the first wave. Now we know it's going to get harder, it's like waiting for the bomb to drop - only we know who it's going to hit first. What Clean Slate did was give people in Bath an opportunity to help us build the first air raid shelter. I won't glibly suggest there's something of the spirit of the blitz about it but there was an outpouring of goodwill that gave us an adrenaline boost like nothing else could. We have to channel that now to show we can provide the means for individuals to overcome unemployment and poverty.

We acted quickly: We've found an office and a coordinator to get us started part-time. We have three employers in Bath pledging us 14 placements of paid work for our Temp Workers there. And last week we uncovered the opportunity to pilot a project we've wanted to do since before we even started trading: Clean Slate TalentShop.

I'll come back to TalentShop but I wanted to place a marker against this support in pockets of our community. We're all affected by the recession and many of those lucky enough to have more protection against the ill effects have empathy towards those who do not.

Clean Slate's job is to galvanise this support and turn it into opportunity. We can also utilise it to strengthen our voice when it comes to where public spending gets cut. We have to ensure the will of the public, and their belief in second chances and the power of individuals to help themselves, is reflected in Government policy.

Blog 2 - No 10

People who know me know I’m not someone to crow about accolades. I’ll happily big up projects I work for and the difference they make but other things come less easily. But friends have persuaded me to get out here about the invitation I’ve received to 10 Downing Street to celebrate Social Enterprise Day with the Prime Minister and a large cohort of other leaders in the field.

And I’m looking for your help.

Most people might be single-mindedly thinking about what they could make of the opportunity. I’m mostly expecting either that I’ll get struck down by swine flu or some international disaster will put paid to the event altogether. I have form on the latter point.

At The Big Issue we spent the first year of my time in London planning its tenth anniversary. It became a focal point for each department in the organisation, pulling together after years without cohesion or much of a shared vision. I banked a lot on it. We lined up a series of three special editions, organised the launch of a Midlands edition and won the favour of news outlets both local and national. The BBC had promised a news segment every night of the week we reached double figures.

There was a real buzz but we feared something would screw it up. What was the killer headline we had to avoid? It was 2001 and the weekend before festivities, every member of staff was under instruction to pray for the good health of the Queen Mum, who’d just turned 101. In fact, we were so concerned, the Big Issue editor asked a respected news journalist whether there were whispers of her demise... which in turn launched a rumour there were fears for her health.

By the date of the anniversary, the Queen Mum was fine. September 10th went tremendously but, for obvious reasons, from the next day on, the rest of our celebrations were somewhat subdued.

So, canapés with Gordon...

While I’m assuming the worst about getting there, I’m not assuming for a moment I’ll have any kind of audience with the PM. But what if? Surely everyone in the room will want to make an impression even though it’s unfeasible any business can be done except between the entrepreneurs in the room. But what if?

How do you think I would make an impression? I’m imagining a 60 second window to reply, profoundly, to one of a number of killer questions. It’s a short list of possible enquiries: What do you do? How did Clean Slate come about? What is the single thing the Government could do to make the biggest impact on social enterprise?

The conversation is a fantasy scenario but I’m intrigued about what YOU think. I think I have the first two covered but what would transform the lot of those of us in business to make a difference? Or for that matter, to change the lives of the people we work with?

Answers on a postcard please, click COMMENT below. Lines close on the 18th November.