Blogs

I was sat on a park bench at a playpark today watching my toddler happily running around with some other kids when one of the young mums in the group said she was thinking of starting up a social enterprise.  I was astonished – I had not told anyone there that I was involved in running a social enterprise or that I was promoting them through my role as an ambassador so this was someone who had got the message…..  Her idea was to turn her waterlogged garden into a bogland nature reserve and charge people to come and look at the flora and fauna – a highly innovative idea.

As my toddler tired, we headed home and I found myself thinking, how far have I come on this journey through the world of social enterprise?  My journey with Cybermoor has taken me all over the world, from Boston to Bilbao, from the Arctic Circle to Pyrenees.  This week I have been approached to set up a similar project to Cybermoor in California and to establish community broadband networks in Africa. 

There is an enormous amount to learn from how businesses tackle problems in other countries and it is often refreshing to learn how other social enterprises are overcoming the same challenges we have in the UK.  On the downside, work with overseas partners can be frustrating as language and cultural differences mean that you have to go over the same ground over and over again.  

Ultimately, we are richer as an organisation for the links we have developed with organisations overseas and encourage any social enterprise to do the same!

Above: A group of European project partners from Hamburg, Italy, Greece, Valencia and Stuttgart visiting Alston – they are jumping to keep warm.