Getting down to business

I attended a preview launch of a new Business Link support programme for social enterprises on Friday. It was masterfully presented by two men in pin-striped suits who were very enthusiastic about the possibilities of social enterprise and 'third sector'.

I've never liked the term third sector, a few years ago when I participated in a Common Purpose course (which brings together people from business, the public sector and the voluntary sector to discuss how to make the world a better place) we were asked in groups to define what business, the public sector and voluntary sector actually were. Everyone spoke up highly about business, were derogatory about the public sector and then struggled to define what the third sector was. I remember a solicitor who was on the programme saying that the third sector was 'social glue and the stuff that's left'.

Anyway, the years have well and truly passed and now it seems that the banks are ready to acknowledge that the social enterprise sector (which basically describes businesses that use profit to advance social aims rather than shareholder's pockets) have great 'business' potential. Apparently RBS (which could be defined as a social enterprise now that we all own most of it) and some of the other banks are now employing new business advisors to serve our sector.

Just to be clear, the third sector encompasses most social charities (from Age Concern to playgroups), to many disability and refugee organisations right through to arts and cultural organisations (the National Trust and the Tyneside Cinema for example), so it's not a small field, and third sector organisations employ a great many people. Of course much of the third sector relies on contributions from individuals or the state in some form but as the banks and many parts of industry have also relied for a long time on European Union and State support, really the differences are getting smaller. Or really weren't that different at all. Maybe our attitudes to making profit and who should profit from profit will change with the credit crunch, I hope so.

There was much laughter at the Business Link seminar when the thorny question of if the third sector should be more 'business-like' came up. All agreed that operating in a business-like way maybe wasn't such a compelling or pervasive aim as it used to be.

The highlight of the afternoon for me came when a participant pointed out that the image on a Business Link screen might not be sending the right message. The screen carried a photograph of a greyhound on a skateboard and was captioned with some kind of vague proclamation about moving businesses forward.

"Greyhounds only have a couple of good years when they win and then they're shot!" He pointed out gleefully. "Couldn't your image be of something longer-term like a oak tree that would grow for years and years and then be cut down and the wood used to make galleons?".

There then followed one of those wonderful moments when someone who is very good at talking struggled to find the right words.

I look forward to galleon making returning to the Tyne.