I don't know Pamela Hartigan, director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University, but she had some interesting things to say in The Times on Friday 15 April. Quoting her directly:

"Government fundamentally misunderstands social enterprises and the people who run them. They are not there to keep things ticking over; they exist to innovate. It drives me crazy that Government sees them as contractors, because in doing that they are driving the innovation right out of them. Social entrepreneurs are not the same as charities. Charities deliver services, making sure that people's basic needs are met and so on. This is an important job but fundamentally they do not change the system, they work within it. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are systems changers. They are looking for ways to shake up the framework, to approach problems and solutions in an entirely new way."

Hear, hear!16 April 2011