The Community Interest Company (CIC) is "for the use of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, and not purely for private advantage".
Since the CIC legislation was introduced as a legal form, five years ago, 5080 CICs have been founded and numbers are still growing.
Despite the widespread presence of CICs within UK business, there are still some misinterpretations and controversy about how effective the CIC form is for communities and the social enterprise movement.
Dermot Egann, founding director at The Hub, recently wrote an article stating that "CICs are effectively anti-entrepreneurial, placing social entrepreneurs at an unnecessary disadvantage by restricting their freedom to operate".
In this week's live Q&A, we'll be looking at what exactly is a CIC and what it implies for a social entrepreneur to use this model.
Among the questions we'll look at are:
- What are the legal implications of starting a CIC?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of CICs against other legal forms?
- Is it possible to sell CIC shares for a profit?
- Are there any other better models for social entrepreneurs?
Do get in touch if you'd like to be a panellist – email gines.haro.pastor@guardian.co.uk for more details.
Also, if you'd like to leave a question, please do so in the comments section below, or come back to ask it live - and to follow the debate - on Thursday 19th May from 1-3pm."
The Panel
Allison Ogden-Newton Chief Executive Social Enterprise London
Twitter: @aogdennewton
Allison is the chief executive of Social Enterprise London, London's leading agency supporting and promoting social enterprise, the business model for the 21st Century, throughout the Capital and Internationally. Last year SEL assisted thousands of social enterprises in developing their businesses, got hundreds of young people into jobs and worked in 9 countries.
Allison has successfully promoted social enterprise to a wide spectrum of decision makers, raising awareness and creating a community of support for future development through highly effective networking and strong strategic partnerships.
Phillip Horrell, Office Manager, Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies
Philip has worked at the CIC Office since its opening in July 2005 and is very familiar with the legislation underpinning CICs and the benefits they are delivering to communities throughout the UK.
Geof Cox, Freelance social enterprise developer, Geof Cox Associates
Geof works internationally on social enterprise development. In the UK he specialises in organisational structures and restructuring, especially around the transformation of public and voluntary sector services to social enterprise.
Abroad, he typically advises international aid charities such as Oxfam on the role social enterprise can play in livelihoods work.
John Mulkerrin, Chief protagonist, CIC Association
Twitter@JohnMulkerrin / @cicassociation
John is founding director at the CIC Association CIC, John incorporated one of the first 100 CICs after a 15 year career in financial services in the UK and Hong Kong.
Jim Brown, principal consultant Baker Brown Associates
Twitter: @bakerbrownassoc
Jim is the principal consultant at Baker Brown Associates, a research, development and training practice specialising in social enterprise and the social economy. Jim has worked in the social economy for over 30 years. His main areas of interest are equity investment, community engagement, innovation, business strategy and training. He is the lead consultant for the Community Shares programme, a two year action research programme led by the DTA and Co-operatives UK for the DCLG and OCS. Jim was also responsible for devising the SFEDI standards in social enterprise and the ILM Level 5 Certificate and Diploma for social enterprise advisers. He currently runs courses leading to these qualifications.
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