Tag Archives: East of England

The RSA Action and Research Centre have just published Salvation in a start-up? The origins and nature of the self-employment boom (Benedict Dellot, May 2014).

A collaboration between The RSA and Etsy, an on-line creative and craft market place, founded in New York in 2005, the report is part of a forthcoming series which…

examines what types of micro-businesses are becoming more commonplace? What has caused the large increase in recent years? And what effect are they having on the economy and wider society?

self employment 2014 cover pic
New markets, new people?

The report argues that the current economic landscape contains six tribes of self employment. The Visionaries, the Classicals, the Independents, the Locals, the Survivors and the Dabblers.

We at conversationsEAST would have liked to see a seventh category, or is it an overlay to do with motive for the existing players? That of the ‘socially motivated’ self employed. Whether a visionary at the top of the list or a part-time, older dabbler at the bottom, all may have begun their entrepreneurial journey with a passion to undertake an ethical, socially focused business or activity.

(There must be Fellows in the East of England who fit into this latter, socially motivated cohort, given the ‘societal change’ remit of our Society? – Ed.)

pdfIcon4 Download a full copy of this report in pdf format here...

The largest of the cohort surveyed were the Survivors. Earning less, and more likely to be younger. Whilst the argument for overwhelming market competition that forces this group to struggle to survive may be a good one, if viewed through a more ethical, social business lens, the lack of focus on personal income but rather on softer, less tangible social outcomes for an entrepreneur like this would also affect the findings too.

Another interesting focus in the report is the Happiness Paradox. The traditional view of self employment, it can be argued, is of an isolated, stressed individual who struggles to make ends meet. This rather cliched description is belied by other findings that suggest those who seek self employment are ‘…more content at work and happier in their lives’.

Stress there is, without doubt, but the RSA report highlights other academic research that sees the development of self employed enterprise as ‘…long periods of relative stability punctuated by critical episodes of transition and change’. The gains for the individual in life outcome are only punctuated by pains periodically. The management of change, or how to pivot the enterprise, is a key skill for the entrepreneurial micro-business, social or otherwise.

Do these finding matter? Yes they do. The RSA research findings offer a subtle and detailed analysis of self employment, its conditioning, content and motive. It disposes of the traditionally held viewpoint that older people, who are pushed or pulled into self employment, represent the core. When in fact, by age, motive and shades of effectiveness the position is more complex.

Does this affect our region? Yes it does. This focus on self employment, who by and how it is operated should condition the thinking of Fellows who are looking at projects involving education, social entrepreneurship, skills and sectoral growth in any field. Self employment is a conditional state. Entrepreneurship is about opportunity recognition and the philosophy of risk. The two are connected.

The ‘social business’, delivered by one or a group of entrepreneurs, wholly focused on social outcome is, we would argue at conversationsEAST, a sound model for sustainability of a project. What a great solution to economic change and development in communities – social entrepreneurs delivering innovative ethical business models over time.

Arguably, if the new report Salvation in a Start-up has rewritten the self employment landscape, combining it with social enterprise can re-write a community landscape? What do you think?

interneticon  See the report highlights in the Enterprise section of The RSA Action & Research Centre web pages here…

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80,000 Hours have just published their strategic review for 2014.

As a new organisation 80,000 is clearly flexing and changing as the efficacy of their campaigns, support for students and discovery of a sustainable social business model begin to emerge.

As a group of people they are dedicated to the take up of social impact as a career choice by graduates. They have fostered a wide debate about earning to give, and now, from the evidence of their strategy thinking, are looking for a way to build upon their research expertise and web publishing capabilities.

We read the strategy document with interest here at conversationsEAST. What has been produced, it seems to us, is a general template for any organisation which wishes to pursue societal change.

What emerges is a strong focus on original research, coupled to applying the emergent information, data  and reflection to web outputs in order to disseminate ideas and raise recruitment.

Whilst expressed briefly here, the concepts do not seem sparklingly original. However, as to be expected from the creative cohort at 80,000, they are not often expressed so elegantly or in such a clear and structured way.

interneticon  Discover 80,000 Hours for yourself and read their 2014 strategy and development document here…

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Malcolm Noble, regional Chair of the RSA in the East of England writes…

Regional Fellowship – an overview

Our regional team arranges a programme of events open to Fellows wherever they live in the East of England. There are local networks serving four of the main population centres: Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge and Chelmsford. They are all engaged in Fellow led projects designed to realise the objectives of our regional plan. The projects are:

NorwIch – educational disadvantage in some parts of the city; involving an RSA Catalyst funded link with Futures Radio.
Ipswich – the Shout Out Suffolk programme on educational under-achievement.
Cambridge – Community Based Initiatives.
Chelmsford – Changing Chelmsford shaping the future of England’s newest city.

We have a region wide project on renewable sources of energy. Our working group commissioned research undertaken by University Campus Suffolk on the mismatch between skills and employment opportunities in this sector.

New local networks are being established in Hertfordshire and South Essex.

We now plan to provide opportunities for Fellows to contribute to all of our projects, regardless of where they live or work. ConversationsEast will enable Fellows to link in to the project discussions through the ‘Local Groups’ and ‘Projects’ pages.

Our new Projects Group, representing each of the local networks, will connect all of the individual initiatives and facilitate Fellow involvement across the region.

interneticon Our conference on 14th June will enable Fellows to influence the changes now underway.

Image of Malcolm NobleMalcolm Noble
Chair: RSA East of England.

 Our summer conference in Norfolk.

‘The RSA East of England conference will happen this year on Saturday 14 June, 10am – 4pm at University of East Anglia, Norwich. Join Fellows, community partners, colleagues and students at the University of East Anglia for a lively and informative day of conversation, projects and activities from Fellows within the East of England region’.

The Conference this year takes place at UEA in Norfolk. You can listen to our keynote speakers and take part in a variety of interactive workshops across a number of themes.

Fellows and guests are happy to welcome RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor, whose keynote will be The Power to Create, and Professor Tim O’Riordan, who is the Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, who will be speaking to Listening to Young Voices for a Fairer Deal.

Twitter iconYou can join the conference Twitter conversation at #RSAEAST  – you can also follow the conference @CommunityatUEA and get re-tweeting from there.

flickr button image  Our conference images will be posted to the flickr account RSAEast2014

The conference group sessions include…

  • University and RSA research collaborations
  • Empowering Invisible Norwich: some initiatives undertaken by the Norwich
    Area Fellows Education Forum
  • Crowd-funding for Entrepreneurs, Creativity and Social Good
  • What is a learning city?

The Fellows will also have created ‘The Marketplace‘ again this year. Where you will have the opportunity to meet and explore a variety of organisations and projects with links to our regional activity.

You can catch up with our last regional conference in Cambridge here. This year in Norfolk is going to be as lively and informative as the previous event.

interneticon  Book your places on-line here, as well as view and download a full copy of the conference programme. We look forward to seeing you in Norwich on Saturday, June 14th, 2014.

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Image credit:

News Desk image by Markus Winkler, Creative Commons, Unsplash...

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