It is up to the public, society and communities to redirect capitalism from its current damaging path.
Last week, there was much talk in Davos of the need to find radical approaches to stop the worst excesses of globalised capitalism and find solutions to the challenges we face. Tax avoidance is the latest trend in irresponsible capitalism, another desperate attempt to make quick profit for a small minority. The political elites are rounding up on the major culprits but so, too, are the public; you, me, my mum Pam, my neighbours, small business owners alike. A clear message is coming from society: an unscrupulous quest for profit at the expense of everything and everyone else is not OK.
For the social enterprise sector, this epiphany is welcome. Across the world, our thriving business community is creating vast amounts of wealth for society and providing a steady footing to take on the many of issues that fuel an unstable economy. Co-operatives, mutuals, trading charities, community interest companies are all part of the movement, shaking up capitalism and employing an economic model that alters the common perceptions about how business can be done. Guided by a social mission, not a pure money mission, and reinvesting profits to help the 99% is something social enterprise has been doing for decades, but now the public are increasingly supporting the model.
On the ground, social enterprise is quenching a thirst from those in societies that want to see economies and communities thrive. More people are buying socially, turning to social enterprises to purchase their groceries, health care, car services, even underwear. Here in the UK, some of the big names in the sector - Divine Chocolate, Belu, the Big Issue - are making sure the ethical purchase is the desirable one. And it's happening the world over. Mondragon, an 88,000-employee co-operative in northern Spain which works across a range of industries, has shown the power of alternative business model. It boasts a better credit rating than central government, the lowest regional unemployment rate and low borrowing costs.
While long-term value is increasingly claimed as a thing of the past (the average holding period of a stock was eight years in 1960 ? today, it's four months), social investors are emerging across the UK, investing in businesses that offer a social as well as financial return. A sense of moral duty and responsibility to society is revived as more people support social enterprises and embrace the 'buy social' message.
An indulgence in bad business has had its heyday. People are rejecting the companies that believe that their sole raison d'être is to profit at any cost. They're turning to the good businesses to fight the bad. But the onus lies with the public, society and communities to help direct capitalism from its current damaging path. Social enterprise is a tool they can use, because whatever Davos thinks, it is you, me and my mum, Pam who will determine society's future, not them.
Peter Holbrook is chief executive at Social Enterprise UK, the UK body for social enterprises.
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Peter Holbrook
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