Let's not build another silo

I'm loving my journey into the new world of social enterprise. It's fresh and exciting, people are both innovative and real, it's awesome.

I just have a little itch in the back of my mind. A little feeling that there still looms a danger that Social Enterprise will become "a thing", something different and separate to business and to traditional charity.

It is different but it's not separate. By its very definition, a social enterprise conducts some sort of business activity. It also shares a social purpose, just like our traditional charities.

We don't need any more silos. We need conversations and collaboration across all of our organisations. We can all teach, we can al learn and probably more importantly, we can all support.

Our badge of honour should be the values we bring, not the type of organisation we represent. We need to be inclusive and embrace the different skills, functions, systems and benefits of all organisations.

Social entrepreneurs place collaboration at the very core of what they do. If you truly believe in the benefits of collaboration, don't fall into the trap of living in a silo. Not only will you miss out on so much knowledge and experience but you will also be denying non-social entrepreneurs access to your passion and drive for a different world.

Let's not repeat past mistakes – we should be more open minded than that.