When I was in Paris last week I caught up with Nicolas Hazard, head of the Comptoir de l’innovation (office of Innovation) of Groupe SOS, the large consortium of social enterprises in the France and pioneer in a new way of leading and innovating in social economy.
Younger than me, Nicolas is a like-minded person. He belongs to the same generation: working in and for society responds to our need for coherence between values and lifestyle. It’s a choice, not an accident because we’re not good at anything else. No question to beg or loose. We’re innovative and ambitious with little patience for old burdens and ideological nonsense.
Spreading French social entrepreneurship across borders and boundaries including Venezuela, California, Tunisia and North Korea, Nicolas brings a new energy into the sector as a Nouvelle Vague for social economy… or is it just a ‘Bobo social’ as some veterans accuse of him and people alike? It’s a question and a challenge for everybody who works in the sector.
By the way, ‘Bobo’ stands for bourgeois bohemian, and is the epithet given to middle class kids who are not serious about life but live on the savings of their parents.
Last week I was in Paris for my first board meeting of Mouves, the French movement of social entrepreneurs. After the UK, it’s time to spread the virus of innovation in the stronghold of Old Europe: France.
The start is promising and Mouves is the right entry point. Established 3 years ago, Mouves has become the shaker of social economy in the country and a new hope for the international movement combining economic, social and environmental goals.
It started as a marriage of convenience between Ashoka – the Washington-led network of social entrepreneurs – and a handful of leaders from the French social and solidarity economy and reformers. The enlightened old guard counts heavyweights such as Hugues Sibille (Credit Cooperatif), Gérard Andreck (MACIF) and Jean Marc Borello – founders and president of Groupe SOS – who championed the reformers.
In a Schumpeterian move this unexpected alliance realised that the only way to renew social economy and assure its mission in society was to create a body inside the sector to shackle its ideological legacy and infuse new energy.
They succeeded and a Nouvelle Vague is taking hold of France. Social enterprise is in the political agenda and in the media. All top Universities and Business School such as Science Po, Insead and ESSEC offer courses. Events like Convergence gather thousands of people who want to understand more about this kind of economy, which seems to be responding to their real needs and aspirations.
France has a centenary history of social economy, notable for its collective entrepreneurship and community values. Social entrepreneurship emerged in the last ten years and is distinguished for an emphasis on individual leadership and innovation and for its more relaxed stance on remuneration and profit distribution.
Mouves got quite some track, especially in the last 2 years, putting social entrepreneurship on the agenda of government and main French media. French social entrepreneurs also influenced the move of Commissioner Barnier in this direction.
Initially, the main bulk of the traditional social economy was hostile and attacks are still not unusual, but France is settling down with the idea that social economy has different forms and expressions all striving for the same goal: greater public good.
In my trip to Paris, I also attended the steering group meeting for the new programme of Credit Coop and MACIF to promote social economy in the Mediterranean. Philippe Da Costa (former Red Cross, now MACIF) took an inclusive line, listing coops, mutuals, associations and social entrepreneurs as targets.
Sticking to the Social electoral manifesto, Hollande appointed a junior Minister for social economy – Benoit Hamon – sitting in the Ministry of Economy and Finance. His mandates includes social entrepreneurship. It’s the first time (although there was a secretary of state for sustainable development including social economy in ’90s), and the sector is enthusiastic.
The Minister is working on a bill that will frame the entire sector (loi cadre) and all the umbrellas are included in the project. There are a few hot topics including: 1) the label for social enterprises 2) the cap on salaries of senior directors.
But the thorny issue of the moment is public subsidies to the private sector and distortion of competition in public procurement. Social entrepreneurs are fiercely on attack mode asking for equal treatment.
Finally, government established a new Public Investment Bank (BPI) which targets private sector and social economy. 500m is earmarked for the social economy. It seems there is an similarity with Big Society Capital that might be worthwhile to explore.
If you read French click here for a good article on the new Minister of social economy.
As you can see, if you think that old Europe is not moving ahead just look closer or follow me 🙂
