The Argentine economy has had a roller-coaster ride over the last two decades with a boom and bust cycle which has included near-calamities such as default and devaluation.

During and after the last really big crisis which started in 2002, companies crashed into bankruptcy – in some cases the owners literally ran away. Workers took over abandoned factories, kept them running, and sought to turn them into viable cooperative enterprises under the slogan “occupy, resist, produce”. At the last count in 2010 there were at least 280 “˜recovered enterprises’ operating as cooperatives.

How are these and other social enterprises working today? To answer that question, Sumak Travel has set up a one-day pilot project of field visits in Buenos Aires. Visitors are accompanied by guides and are given first hand, on the spot accounts of the selected community initiatives. The one-day tour starts out at the Hotel Bauen, which was one of the first and most emblematic takeovers, and is now run as a cooperative venture. Members of its management explain how the workers – after a struggle with the former owners – successfully took control and saved the hotel from bankruptcy, allowing it to become a symbol for the recovered enterprises movement. Staff from The Working World / La Base, a solidarity-based finance organisation, are also involved in the presentation. The Working World provides non-collateral based loans to co-operatives, and recovered enterprises make up about half of their portfolio.

Then we leave the city centre. First stop is the Fatima School and Workshop, which started out more than ten years ago teaching sewing and soldering to unemployed youngsters, and is now a thriving vocational skills community enterprise. Nuestras Huellas, a network of over 120 non profit-making communal banks created at neighbourhood level and mainly run by women, is another selected grass-roots initiative on the itinerary. Participants are able to visit one of the communal banks, share empanadas (pasties) and mate (a tea-like herbal infusion) with its members, and learn first hand how this scheme is improving the lives of thousands of people.

Back in Buenos Aires, last stop is the Silataj Foundation fair trade boutique, where you can find beautiful and authentic handicrafts hand made by indigenous peoples from Northern Argentina.

All monies paid for the visits go towards the development of the projects, creating a complementary source of income that can be helpful in difficult times. Early indications are that the pilot is proving very successful. The social entrepreneurs involved have told us they find it incredibly motivating to explain what they have achieved to interested foreign visitors. As one of the entrepreneurs put it: “I think we were able to give them a bigger picture of today’s Argentina, not just the sealed pack of tourist postcards that people often get”.

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This is one of a series of short blogs that Sumak Travel are posting with friends and partners in support of World Responsible Tourism Day (November 6th). The goal is to feature great local, responsible tourism initiatives in South America.

This piece was first featured on the ClearlySo website.

AXA,  Swiss  Re  Foundation  and  Impact  Hub  looking  for  entrepreneurial  solutions  to  address  demographic  ageing

Today  AXA  and  Swiss  Re  Foundation  launched  together  with  Impact  Hub  an  international  startup  support  program,  to   enable  entrepreneurs  with  innovative  solutions,  to  address  the  challenges  of  the  increase  in  human’s  life  expectancy   and  demographic  ageing.  The  Impact  Hub  Fellowship  for  Longer  Lives,  implemented  in  four  different  cities  and  countries,  will  nominate  up  to  twelve  initiatives  and  award  four  of  them  with  a  one  year  fellowship,  gaining  access  to  seed   funding,  focused  skill  development,  valuable  networks  and  a  stimulating  workspace  at  Impact  Hub.

Impact  Hub  Fellowship  is  a  topic  focused  entrepreneurial  idea  award  and  one year  incubation  program  designed  to   attract,  select  and  support  early  stage  impact  orientated  entrepreneurs  and  help  them  realise  their  innovations  for  a   more  sustainable  world.  Each  Fellowship  gets  implemented  by  the  collaborative  effort  of  key  stakeholders.   The  thematic focus  of  the  AXA  and  Swiss  Re  Foundation  Fellowship  is  Longer  Lives.  The  increase  in  human’s  life  expectancy  and demographic  ageing  has  become  one  of  the  major  challenges  facing  our  society  today.  Although  there  is  still   a  north­‐south  disparity,  it  is  a  global  phenomenon  and  since  2009,  the  number  and  proportion  of  elderly  people  has   been growing  faster  than  ever  in  both  developed  and  developing  countries.  This  gives  rise  to  very  significant  economic, social  and  educational  challenges,  concerning  everyone  of  us.  However,  it  is  also  a  source  of  barely yet  explored   opportunities.   With  the  Fellowship,  AXA,  Swiss  Re  Foundation  and  Impact  Hub  are  looking  for  innovative  initiatives  that  provide  sustainable  solutions  towards  meeting  the  challenges  and  opportunities,  posed  by  the  increase  in  life  expectancy  and   demographic  ageing.

The  Fellowship  will  be  open  to  purpose-driven  entrepreneurs,  who  are  ambitious,  aiming  to  revolutionise  the  status   quo and  find  that  collaboration  is  the  most  powerful  tool  to  generate  positive  impact.  Awarded  will  be  scalable  solutions  in  the form  of  products  or  services  that  enable  changes  in  practice  or  behaviour  in  one  or  several  of  the  following   aspects:

• Organisation  of  family  life

• Education  system

• Corporate  economic  life

• Public  services

Starting  in  Milan,  Italy  at  Impact  Hub  Milano  applications  open  beginning  of  November  2013  -­‐  the  Fellowship  will   further be  launched  in  London,  United  Kingdom  at  Impact  Hub  Kings  Cross,  Oaxaca,  Mexico  at  Impact  Hub  Oaxaca  and   Madrid, Spain  at  Impact  Hub  Madrid.

This  partnership  came  into  being  on  the  occasion  of  the  150th  anniversary  of  Swiss  Re,  joining  forces  with  one  of  the world’s  largest  insurers,  the  AXA  Group.

“We  at  Swiss  Re  Foundation  are  proud  to  work  with  AXA  on  this  new  initiative. It  is  a  natural  extension  of  our  business   relationship  and  offers  opportunities  to  merge  our  business  and  social objectives for  the  good  of  society”,  said  Jean-­‐ Jacques  Henchoz,  CEO  Reinsurance  EMEA  and  Member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees Swiss  Re  Foundation.

“I  am  convinced  that  the  increase  in  life  expectancy  is  one  of  the  main  challenges  of  the  21st century,  for  both  mature   and  emerging  economies. This  partnership  with  Swiss  Re  and  Impact  Hub  is  a  wonderful  way to help  turn  one  of  society’s  greatest  risks  into  an  economic  opportunity,  thanks  to  concrete  solutions  launched  by  social entrepreneurs   throughout  the  world”,  said  Alice  Steenland,  Vice  President  of  Corporate  Responsibility  at  AXA  Group.

AXA  Group  Community  Investment  

As  a  responsible  corporate  citizen,  AXA  strives  to  play  a  positive  role  in  society,  by building  a  culture  that  promotes   employee  volunteering  and  by  helping  to  build  better  understanding  of  the  risks  faced by  individuals  and  society  at   large.  This  commitment  includes  three  key  initiatives:

• Volunteer  work,  carried  out  through the  AXA  Hearts  in  Action  international  solidarity  organization  for  21  years.  In   2012,  over  28,500  employees  volunteered in charity  projects  around  the  world.

• The  AXA  Research  Fund  that  supports  science  contributing  to  understanding  and preventing  environmental,  life,   and  socio-­‐economic  risks.

• A  partnership  with  the  humanitarian  NGO  CARE,  to  help  vulnerable  populations  better  face  climate  and  health   risks.   For  more  information:  www.axa.com/en/responsibility/strategy-commitments

Swiss  Re  Foundation    

Swiss  Re  Foundation  is  a  non-­‐profit  organisation  committed  to  care  and  concern  for  society  and  the  environment.     Launched  in  2012  by  global  re/insurer  Swiss  Re,  the  Foundation  aims  to  make  people  more  resilient  towards  natural   hazards,  climate  change,  population  growth,  water  scarcity  and  pandemics,  along  with  other  challenges  to  society’s   security,  health  and  prosperity.  It  also  supports  community  projects  and  employee  volunteering  in  locations  where   Swiss Re  has  offices.   For  more  information:  www.swissrefoundation.org

Impact  Hub  &  Impact  Hub  Fellowship    

Impact  Hubs  make  up  a  global  network  of  people,  places,  and  programs  that  inspire,  connect  and  catalyse  impact.  Part   innovation  lab,  part  business  incubator,  and  part  community  centre,  Impact  Hubs  offer  their  members  a  unique  eco-system  of  resources,  inspiration,  and  collaboration  opportunities  to  grow  impact.     The  global  Impact  Hub  Fellowship  Association  is  a  not-­for-­profit  member  organisation  based  in  Zurich  to  promote  social  innovation  through  start-­up  incubation  programs  –  Impact  Hub  Fellowships.  Through  the  association,  these  programs  are  globally  connected,  while  being  integrated  in  local  Impact  Hubs.   For  more  information:  www.impacthub.net,  www.fellowship.impacthub.net

We gathered members to describe Impact Hub King’s Cross in one word….here’s what we got!

For our 5th Birthday our lovely members told us what they really think about us! Don’t just take our word for it, hear their testimonials and come visit us.

The Institute of Fundraising (IOF) aims to be “an influential voice for fundraisers and to be an expert policy lead on fundraising and wider giving”, its website tells us, adding:

“Our policy team works to deliver a strong representative voice on behalf of our members that influences and effects change for the fundraising profession wherever it is needed.”

I am not a member, so mine is a suitably modest proposal for a policy change that the IOF might advocate: that charities stop exploiting young people by refusing to pay their interns. That scandal will continue as long as funders expect charities to bridge their capacity gaps with eager young graduates whose parents or connections enable them to work for nothing.  It will continue as long as NGOs that wax rhetorical about fair employment practice and equality of opportunity continue to defy those values in their own offices.  It will continue as long as founders of social enterprises convince themselves that their willingness to invest unpaid time in their venture means it is ok to share risks but not rewards with unpaid employees.

In short, it will continue as long as the third sector convinces itself that its core principle of voluntarism can be fairly applied to what are in reality jobs.

And, if the IOF is as influential as it claims to be, it will continue as long as the IOF itself thinks it is ok to advertise, as it did this week, for an unpaid intern whose job would involve:
•helping deliver a research project into diversity in fundraising;
•assisting in preparing briefings on Government activity;
•collaborating with other charity sector organisations; and
•supporting the team’s communications and press work.

The IOF says it is “the largest individual representative body in the voluntary sector with over 5,300 individual members and 340 organisational members”.  Can it really not afford even the national minimum wage (£6.19 per hour), let alone the London Living Wage (£8.55), for the important role envisaged for the intern?  For the three month period of the internship, the living wage would work out at less than 70 pence per individual or organisational member. I’d call that a fair trade.

As long as those members are willing to keep that 70 pence rather than pay a living wage to a valuable worker, I’d say IOF — like so many of its organisational members — has a major ethical issue at its own heart.  But if they think I’m wrong, I’d be happy to hear their argument about what makes their internship fair.

So here’s an open invitation to come to our workshop, with the Hub Kings Cross, to talk about what a Fair Trade Internship would be like, and how we get from here to there. All welcome — it’s free of charge and you can register here.

By Brendan Martin at Publicworld.org

Member Story: Jamie Grainger-Smith

Jamie Grainger-Smith is the founder and CEO of Think.Eat.Drink. A food and drink business with a focus on enviromental sustainability and ethical business practice. The company started out in catering, events and consultancy, has since developed a membership scheme, gathering together a network of of the industries most ethical suppliers, and will soon be opening their first restaurant, at a prime spot just minutes from London’s recently renovated King’s Cross Station. We recently interviewed Jamie to capture some of his story.

1) What is your job/ business in 1 line?  Consultant to, and entrepreneur in, the sustainable food and drink industry.

2) What does impact mean to you?  It means triggering a change within the food and drink industry, and influencing the ideas, and priorities of the growing community of people working in it.

3) Why do you do what you do?  Everyday is different. I find my self in the best places, and with the most interesting people. Eg yesterday was amazing from me: starting the day at Spitalfields looking at coffee and furniture, and ending up in the Landmark hotel.

4) What are you passionate about?  I’m passionate about the environment, food and drink, commmunity, education, training and legacy. Trying to make a change for good.

5) Why did you join the Hub?  I joined as part of the founding team, and set up the cafe many years ago now, but it’s still going strong! I loved it so much I stuck around to run their ethical events programmes. It’s been great to be in King’s Cross, I love the area and have been here for almost 9 years. The energy of King’s Cross is intoxicating, and I feel very fortunate to be here and be part of the local community. I’ve had some great messages from locals about our new resturant that we’ll be opening here. It will be really exciting to bring some responsible food and drink back to the area.

6) What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?  Be true to yourself, and you can do it if you really want to

7) How do you keep yourself motivated?  There’s always something new to learn. Not just from and about King’s Cross but from and about London. Its such an amazing city. There is so much excitement in the city and its always re-inventing itself and it ends up re-inventing you!

8) What is your biggest challenge as an entrepreneur?  Cashflow and investments. Always trying to make sure you re-invest the money you have earned wisely, and not wasting it on frivolous madness!

9) What advice would you give someone starting a business, or oganisation of their own?  Have a clear idea of where you want to be in five years, and keep that goal in your mind at all times. One of the things that motivates to make sure this restaurant becomes one of London’s finest sustainable food outlets, is that in 5 years time, I want to have 4 more of them!

[Last night] I attended another great session hosted by Jonathan Kahn with two excellent speakers discussing how to deal with ‘blockers’ in your company and influence without authority. The event was held at The Hub in King’s Cross, a precursor to the forthcoming Dare conference in September.

The night kicked off with two speakers, Sarah Richards Head of Content Design for GOV.UK and Ummul Choudhury, Co-Founder of Bidna Capoeira. Both addressed ‘blockers’ (people objecting to your ideas) when presenting and how to best influence your desired outcome.

Sarah’s role at GOV.UK is pretty legendary in content strategy circles; her team have been responsible for culling multiple government websites in favour of a single hub of easily, findable information. GOV.UK is a brilliant example of applied CS under extremely challenging conditions.

She presented her  insights as four main points:

1. Find the pain. Don’t launch into a conversation with your point of view. No one will listen to you unless they say what they need to say. Shut up and let them speak (‘enjoy the silence’). Then repeat back to them what they have said for clarity of understanding. Let them run out of things to say.

She says this process will ‘reset the relationship’ and disable (hopefully) any tension that may have built up in the weeks prior to the meeting.

2. Avoid the hard sell. Learn what you need then ‘show’ and ‘share’ your point of view. Rip up the agenda and whiteboard the issues to reach a common understanding. She acknowledged that sometimes you will always have people who won’t listen, that’s life. As a way to avoid arguments, bring in experts to back up your point of view. Sometimes, it’s better to hear the new ideas from an outsider.

3. Look beyond the KPIs. If you hit them, will they really deliver what the company really needs? As an example, Sarah spoke about how she reversed one of her previous KPI metrics for ‘Visitors’. If one of the key GOV.UK objectives is to make information more visible, then forcing people to view this info on their own site made no sense. Instead, they optimised the description field in SERPs so you can find key info (like contact details) by simply typing the appropriate keywords into a search engine. Extremely brave, extremely clever and works really well on a search optimised site like GOV.UK.

4. Flattery will get you everywhere. Network, talk to senior management. Ask them for their opinion on anything. People love to tell you what they think. Make connections and establish a network of champions before you step into that all-important boardroom meeting.

Ummul Choudhury’s account of teaching Capoeira to refugees in Palestine was both insightful and moving. Even though she had endured hardship from the authorities whilst trying to do her job, she maintained enthusiastic by reminding herself of the bigger picture. Unlike the refugees she worked with, she still had her passport and her freedom so that gave her the perspective and energy to return each time. She also discussed how easy it was to label people and how our own prejudices limit ourselves.

After the presentations there was time for a panel discussion and the chance for smaller groups to work together to problem solve challenges we face at work. A great chance to network and come away from the session with an action plan.

Thanks again to Jonathan and speakers and I’m looking forward to the Dare conference in September!

Content Strategy workshop: Group presentations

Content Strategy workshop: Group presentations

Social innovation is by its very definition about people. So it stands to reason that any space wishing to encourage social innovation would have people at the heart of its design.

Sadly, this is rarely the case. Most space design still relies on the inspiration of one or more design ‘experts’, combined with the inputs of a client represented by one or two people. Together they articulate the brief, defining the needs of the wider users without consultation.