`The Accidental Entrepreneur’

TheTrue Story of How I Half-Succeeded in Social Enterprise

Craig Dearden-PhillipsFounder and CEO, Speaking Up

For the CSEP Conference, Keswick, March 26 2009

Did you say Accidental?

Yes, like most social entrepreneurs, I only came to life when I stumbled on my purpose

Before that I wasn’t entrepreneurial at all. I was 24 and pretty directionless

My purpose came to me when working with disabled people in social care: to help

people to us their voice

Why did I do it?

I saw a social care system for disabled people that

...that cost a fortune......that had very poor outcomes, and... ...failed to invest in people’s capacity

to shape their own future..

Speaking Up was my response based on what I believed

How I Started – The Only Way

Keeping costs down

The importance of

passion

Having to deliver or die

That everything

matters

The lessons of starting small...

A Crisis: Then a New Approach to Our Mission

Mission: Voice.Action.Change for disabled people

Putting Away the Begging Bowl

In 2002, we relied mostly on traditional charitable donations

They paid for direct work but didn’t help us to develop the organisation

So we turned instead to winning contracts - mainly

We still received donated income (about 30%) – but, crucially, we don’t depend on it for survival

But we didn’t do it alone

More than money….£400k over 5yrs to develop us into

a sustainable business £150k consultancy support

Intensive mentoring for CEOTook us from £500k to £4m / yr

Our Transition from the `Charity mentality’ to `Social Business’

or in at the deep end...

How we did it

Building a Team beyond the founding fanatics

We recruited an FD and Sales Director from commercial sector which built sales but alienated many staff and trustees.

Developing systems without killing the spirit

Speaking Up has always had powerful number two working as foil to

Landing services in a new place

We got caught and totally underestimated the work involved. Put in only trusted insiders into new locations.

When to control, when to let go

We started with Stalinism (correct) but let go too slowly. Goal is decentralisation

The Challenges of Scaling

What was required

Great performance?

Half-Succeeded?

Speaking Up is still very fragile, even now. The `public sector recession’ will damage us

The truth behind any so-called success is a lot of failure, cock-up….and learning. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise

Anyway, beware because: “Success makes you happy and lazy” – The Prodigy

2002-03 2008-09

Personally exhausted, considering jacking it in

Still exhausted but supported by a strong board and excellent senior team (why I am here today)

500 beneficiariesTurnover £0.5m1 main location

4000 beneficiariesTurnover £4.3m 7 main locations

Organisation in poor financial and operational state

Organisation has money in the bank and winner of many awards for delivery.

One main `product’ and limited customer base

Several successful products, working in a variety of `markets’ which mitigates risk

Regrets?Missing a huge opportunity once

Staying `hands-on’ too long Not taking enough risks generallySome of my appointments very

poorNot leading & managing staff v.

wellSlow to develop a senior team

Beating the Recession?

PWC predict real drops of 1.6% per yr in public spending from 2010-13 – or massive

tax hikes of £50 billion pa.But genuine opportunities for public

innovators who can prove they can deliver in health, education, welfare to work services

Large scale private sector now has less access to debt finance and is now less trusted

Our Challenge

To Accept that the world has changed – and that is contains opportunities not just

problemsTo have pride and confidence in being a

social business offering blended returns – this is the `century of social business’ (Peter

Drucker)To think a lot bigger. We need large success

stories to add to the small ones.

So, what’s to learn from my story?

Social entrepreneurs are made as much as bornWith the right inspiration, I believe many people can become successful social entrepreneurs. Most skills can be learned if the motivation is strong enough.

It’s a long-game Successful ventures take years to develop and take enormous persistence

and you need to be prepared to endure many setbacks and learn from them.

Social business is proper business This means being dead-serious about delivery, totally committed to blended

return (financial and social profit) and a positive attitude to growing your business to touch more lives.

Thanks for Listening Today!

You can contact me atCraig.Dearden-Phillips@speakingup.org

www.speakingup.orgwww.craigdeardenphillips.com

Blog: http://nakedentrepreneur.blogspot.comMy book `Your Chance to Change the World – The No-Fibbing Guide to Social Entrepreneurship’ is available

on Amazon or via my website.