Servane Mouazan – founder, Ogunte
Do a bit of soul searching first. Our Make a Wave pre-incubator will touch on the soul searching you need to do before you start this journey. It will ask critical questions about your team, your business model, the way you measure impact and which outcomes are relevant in relation to your commercial objectives.
Some business are better smaller. Not all enterprises should scale up and some are more relevant in a local/niche market. There's a useful article entitled Growth is not the only way to achieve impact. What can be scaled up is a hyperlocal network of small businesses. There's a new breed of impact investors (ex corporate, faith based groups etc) who want to donate or loan to local ventures because they can see direct results.
Decide if you are ready and, if not, do some preparation. What will success mean and are you currently equipped (including in your personal life) to start this journey? If not, consider how you can best design your transition period so that you allow enough time and resources to learn, attract the right supporters, the right expertise etc.
Robin Foale – managing director, Santander UK Business Banking
Scaling out is important too. We've focused on scaling up but perhaps the other side of the coin is 'scaling out'. If your enterprise is successful in one specialist field there may be opportunities to look at related business areas/markets and this could be achieved through collaboration. Bringing new players into the social enterprise sphere would be a fantastic way to build a truly sustainable market place.
James Scott – business services manager, Ortus
Franchising is much less risky than scaling up. We feel that because it involves the transfer of knowledge, skills and experience, plus an established business model, franchising is a much less riskier way for social enterprises to replicate. I've created a list of social franchising resources, here.
Professor Fergus Lyon – Middlesex University and Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC)
We are seeing more collaboration as a way of scaling. The interesting area is now in collaboration as many organisations are under pressure from competition. We are seeing collaboration with non-competitors but also worries about working too closely with those who might take contracts or customers.
Maintaining your intellectual property is a key issue in franchsing. The issue of protecting your knowledge and expertise – what some might call your 'intellectual property' – is a key one in franchising. There is a concern that competitors will take the idea but you can make money from sharing ideas. See the Strategies for Scaling Up section on the Third Sector Research website.
Trudy Thompson - founder, Bricks and Bread
Collaboration can be the best way to increase impact. Bricks and Bread is having a very interesting time right now. Rather than trying to scale up the organisation I have been proactively sharing and collaborating with other businesses to grow all our ventures – together we are stronger. I am a big fan of the book REWORK by Jason Fried. He has great views on scaling up an enterprise, saying there is nothing wrong with being a small venture, if you want to be flexible and innovative with your business.
Kate Pierpoint - social enterprise manager, Manor House Development Trust
Partnership working and pooling resources is a great way to scale up. As an example of scaling up, we manage a training and employment steering group in Hackney called Woodberry Works Partnership. By working in partnership, we have successfully created sustainable projects that are being used across wider London. The partnership includes representatives from local authorities, private contractors, community colleges and the voluntary sector. We volunteer for each other, share premises and help each other reach as many disadvantaged residents as possible, etc. There's a report on the key barriers to social enterprises scaling up on the CAN website here.
The potential for scaling up is important for commissioners. We have seen replicability and scalability become an essential requirement of the commissioning process, in delivering public services.
Kate Markey - deputy chief executive, CAN
It's a great time if you want to grow. There are some great social investors like Social Investment Business, CAF Venturesome, Impetus Trust and Esmee Fairbairn operating in grant / loan / patient capital space and with the launch of Big Society Capital, but we need more of a pipeline of social enterprises coming forward. Many trusts and foundations are looking to see how they can support investment-readiness and scale. But don't assume that investors will have all the answers, they want to talk to social enterprise leaders who know their businesses.
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