AbstractAbstract
This was the call to arms by Kofi Annan in his 2001 UN Global Compact speech and one response has been the rise of the social enterprise as a trading vehicle. The Social Enterprise Coalition defines a social enterprise as a business driven by a social or environmental purpose. Today there are at least 62,000 of them generating £24bn for the economy and employing 800,000 people. Well known examples are The Big Issue, Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, the fair trade chocolate brand Divine and Cafedirect.
With that as the context, I will describe my business adventure starting with my first career as a fish farmer and ending with my current career. The Lexi cinema, London’s first social enterprise cinema is based in North London and distributes 100% of its profits to South Africa’s first, mixed development, eco village. I intend to build the brand across the UK.
Along the journey there are acrimonious demergers, courtships by two big sharks, a BIMBO and many a hard lesson learned.
Biography
When Sally Wilton sold etc.venues limited back in 2006 in a transaction worth £21 million, she thought she might retire! Since then, she has launched London’s first Social Enterprise digital cinema project and intends to grow the brand across the UK. Why did she do this? To rejuvenate her local community in North West London and to help fund South Africa’s first ever mixed development eco village.
The Lexi Cinema opened in October 2008 and 100% of its profits go to South Africa. 18 months in, and with the generous help of past and new colleagues, The Lexi remains on the radar and is looking forward to an exciting year ahead, generating funds and building links between the two communities.
Sally started out her career as a fish farmer in Scotland, Tanzania and the USA. Sally then returned to London joining Greater London Enterprise and developing their training and consultancy subsidiary, designed to support venture capital investee companies.
In 1992, Sally went on to found etc.venues, with a belief that a business’s main asset is its people – driving the message that motivated, respectfully treated employees make for satisfied clients and sustained business success. At sale the company employed 130 people from 30 countries and all benefitted from the sale through a bespoke employee share ownership trust Sally had created for them.
The company won many Awards over the years: ranging from the Nat West ‘Best Small Business Start-Up’ in 1993 to a listing in the ‘Inner City 100′ in 2002 and Visit London’s Gold in the ‘Best for Business’ category in 2005. It also received a number of environmental awards from Local Authorities, based on Sally’s ongoing commitment and passion for environmental and community-based causes. etc.venues was proud to maintain ‘Investor in People’ status from inception to point of sale.
Sally has shared her experiences, vision and expertise over the years with other organisations and continues to be committed to supporting smaller businesses and charitable causes through mentoring and sponsorship.
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception from 19.00.
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