Social Entrepreneurs 2
In October last year we focussed on social entrepreneurship, featuring in particular Big Society Capital, an independent financial institution with a social mission, set up to help grow the social investment market. As well as Access 2 Work, and the transformation of property and young people’s lives in Ellesmere Port, a seriously deprived area near Liverpool, England.
This time we look more closely at the tasks and challenges facing entrepreneurs today, not the highly-capitalised, get rich-quick type, but the many individuals or small groups seeking to earn a reasonable living while avoiding negative social impact.
Sign of Our Time opens with a report from the OECD/European Union focussing on Financing Inclusive Entrepreneurship, the ability of a diverse range of entrepreneurs to access capital. Several recommendations are put forward, while the article ends with a glossary of the various forms of credit available.
The first Feature is about Cash is Crucial, and takes a look at the demand from prospective creditors for rigorous sets of financial accounts. The second excerpt considers how entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, selling a wide range of products.
The second Feature focuses on Community-Based Investing, and how this may reflect a higher evolution of crowdfunding, representing a step beyond random offerings on the Web – one that is all about connecting real people in real communities, where trust and reputation are front and centre in the process.
In Young People, Young Money, we consider what it means to be an associative entrepreneur with two separate articles. The first examines the situation of those who find themselves young, rootless and broke; the second casts an eye upon the differing roles of old and young money within the economy.
The AEX Page features contributions on the theme of funding circles and scrip schemes, and asks to what extent do such arrangements reveal or hide the underlying economic relationships and whether these can be seen as associative.
Accounting Backdrop takes as its starting point a previous article from March 2014, which investigated the use of spreadsheets to track the transactions of multiple entities, and pushes beyond this process to imagine what benefits could gleaned by those using it to share their accounts and what impact this may have upon the circulation of capital.