With the generous support of the British Council and Virgin Atlantic Airways in China, the China UK Social Enterprise Visit Programme 2007, organized by Global Links Initiative, took place on March 4th to 12th.

The participants came from the government, academia, business and NPO sectors in Shanghai. It was a great honour for me to participate in this programme as a new staff member of Global Links Initiative.

I hardly knew anything about social enterprises before joining GLI. After reading some books about this concept, I understood a social enterprise to be an organization which creates social value in a business way. Social and entrepreneur - these two words seem to have opposite meanings, but they combine into a new phrase: social entrepreneur. It's different from simply donating large amount of money to charity.

First Stop: Bromley-By-Bow Community
Located in the east end of London, a poor community consisting of immigrants developed from a small church into a functional, harmonious community with its own healthy living centre - one of the first of its kind in UK.

People coming from different countries help each other and learn different skills in this community. According to the introduction presented by centre director, Mr. Rob Trimble, there are 115 staff in charge of 18 projects. About 500 local inhabitants regularly attend the different project activities here and 1500 people use the health centre.  22 social enterprises are supported in the community. From learning English to gaining specific qualifications and even a BA degree, the aim of community is to release potential and let inhabitants help themselves while they are helping others.

 Insisting on the concept of 'partnership', 'excellence' and 'integration', the community itself has been the partner of central and local government and provides advice to government policy makers .

Second Stop: Whitehaven Trust and Westlake Science and Technology Park
In this beautiful town beside the sea, the Whitehaven Trust has been a force for community regeneration. They built a home for young homeless people aged from 12 to 18.

The coffee bar on the second floor of town hall is the place where young people work and study cooking. They find self-esteem and hope through their work and fine their way in the world. Nicolas Centre, located in the centre of town, is a community culture centre that has grown out of the ruins of a burned down church. Available to all, it still keeps the function of religion. People who worship and people who enjoy coffee are just separated by a transparent glass door.

Westlake Science and Technology Park near the town is the representative of emerging technology. Nuclear is the leading research and development programme of the park. Located in a region of attractive scenery, the park is in the front of nuclear technology in the UK. Large-scale enterprises and key universities set up branches in this park. Although there is no social enterprise in it, the park encourages young entrepreneurs and its existence increases job opportunities locally and promotes the economy of the town.

Third Stop: TRACK 2000
We went directly to TRACK 2000 when we arrived at Cardiff - the Capital City of Wales.

A disordered storage facility full of recycled furniture impressed me very much because the social profit it creates is more close to ordinary families, although it is not very tidy and bright like other social enterprises we visited before. I respect the people here and this social enterprise after knowing all the equipment and facilities are not purchased and all of them come from the used items which are recycled, repaired and used again.

Mr. Tony Crocker, the founder of TRACK 2000, showed us a project of recycling. They recycle used items, repair them and then sell them to disadvantaged families at very low prices or free of charge and even provide service on the doorstep. It is sustainable and humane. In China, we also have used items which we never use again, we just keep them in our home or on the porch which occupy public areas because the inhabitants think the items may still have some value and are unwilling to throw them away. If we also had a 'TRACK 2000', these used items will regenerate their value and serve people again.

Fourth Stop: Solas Cymru Homeless Project
The concept of Solas located in Newport has similarity to the homeless home in  Whitehaven Trust, which also provides all-round services and educational training for the homeless to release their potential.

In Solas, we enjoyed the painting of artists, the performance of singers and the food prepared by the chefs. All of them are the talents educated and cultivated by Solas and demonstrated by people who were once homeless. 

Someone has signed a contract with a music production company and someone has represented the UK in the World Football Competition of the Homeless. The techniques and abilities they learned here help them earn respect from society.

Fifth Stop: Kaleidoscope
The clients of Kaleidoscope are drug users. Kaleidoscope opens at 7 a.m everyday for the sake of the clients who need methadone treatment before work and protecting their privacy. The dosage and time are precisely controlled by computer and professional doctors and nurses provide medical and psychological treatment.

They help the clients recover both physically and psychologically and prevent them from returning to drugs. This humane way is much more effective than compulsive treatment. Furthermore, they cooperate with other NPOs to provide basic services for homeless people and other people with social problems, for example, renting business suits and leather shoes free of charge for them to take part in job interviews.

Overall impression
I felt the power of social enterprises during the short 10-day visit. The operational model of a social enterprise helps an organization which dedicates itself to public profit have a sustainable future. We have many grass-roots organizations that focus on different social problems in China. But by just depending on a warm-heart, enthusiasm, several volunteer leaders and a team of volunteers, a wonderful concept may lead to a failure because of a lack of resources and the support from government. What they want to do and what they are doing are very helpful to the society, but perhaps they need the concept of social enterprise to develop their organizations and continue their careers.

By active communication with UK government officials and directors of social enterprises, the participant visitors who came from different social sectors focused on different aspects. The officials paid attention to how social enterprises gained trust and support from government, the entrepreneur looked at developing public profit in the commercial field and the NPOs focused on the mutual operation model of UK social enterprise.

It was an honour for all of us to enter Westminster and have the opportunity to talk with M.P Mr. Edward Garnier about the cooperation between government and social enterprises and we also discussed the contribution of social enterprises in local areas with local government officials during the visit.

All of us are looking forward to the development of social enterprises in China and the cooperation between government, enterprise and NPOs.

Jeanne Zhu
Global Links Initiative
C-104, Rome Garden,
8, Ronghua East Street, Gubei District
Shanghai, China  201103
Tel:+86(021)6278 5846
E-mail: jeanne_zhu@126.com