The People-Centred Economic Development, based in Gloucestershire, has been redefining profit for in human terms. Jeff Mowatt from the company spoke about the social business

Explain your business.
We’re called People-Centered Economic Development, in essence a business with a primary social objective, a social ROI. We began in 1996 with a founding paper describing a new more inclusive economic model for the information age, with the same name as our business.

What’s your background?
P-CED started in the US in 1997 following the founding paper and and by 1999 was working in Russia to source a development initiative and microfinance bank which created 10,000 small enterprises in the city of Tomsk.

We launched in the UK in 2004, deriving revenue from an ongoing software development business.

Why do your ethics play such a strong role in your business, and how does it apply to what you do?
Our revenue is deployed in activism and advocacy for human rights and poverty eradication. We believe that any economic model which includes disposability of humans either by genocide or starvation. Hence we are working in Eastern Europe to leverage investment in sustainable development.

What have you achieved with what you do?
Aside from the Tomsk initiative, since incorporation in the UK we’ve researched and submitted a ‘Marshall Plan‘ strategy paper to the US Senate which has begun to have inpact on government policy

What was harder to implement than you thought it would be?
Certainly. At first we tried a UK community broadband proposal but were unable to attract funding for a model based on a guarantee company. This was a year before the introduction of CICs which are based on similar principles, and we would have been difficult to understand. Then our founder, was excluded from the UK as a visitor. Exclusion has been an ongoing problem of many dimensions.

And yet, founder Terry Hallman resident in Ukraine for the last five years where he continues to advocate for the disenfranchised, particularly disabled children, was commended as an example of excellence in BT’s Seen and Heard awards last year.

What has been the unexpected benefit, if any, to you, your business or the community?
What we hadn’t expected was the influence on mainstream economics which came about because of the credit crisis. Now influential business leaders and politicians talk of more inclusive capitalism under various new labels which brings us a long way from publishing an idea on the web 12 years ago. Otherwise influence on the policies of two governments is something I’d not have dreamt of five years ago.

What have you learnt and what advice would you give to others thinking of starting a social enterprise?
I was reminded recently of part of the script of an old film, Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

In the film, Chinese tradition has five “happiness” wishes: wealth, longevity, good health, virtue, and a peaceful old age and death. “Each person must decide in their heart what the sixth happiness is.”

So, my answer would be to pursue that Sixth Happiness whatever is tossed in the way to divert your path.

How do you view the future?
We started off with a ideal, to replicate localised people-centered economics on a global basis. That view remains steadfast and now seems more achievable.

• If you are or know a social or ethical business, get in touch to be featured on the PRSD, email info@peoplesrepublicofsouthdevon.co.uk

Here are some questions for you to get going

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You know how it is when all the cupboards are bare, and you’ve got so many projects you want to pursue but for a little lolly (that’s money to you). We know that feeling only too well. Well, here’s some funding opportunities that have come across our desk

Funding Stuff
Global Music Company supporting music education and encouragement
The aim of this foundation, set up by EMI records, is to support projects that encourage education, in particular for young people, in all aspects of music. Bursary (£5000) and general awards up to £2,500. www.musicsoundfoundation.com

Heritage Lottery funds: Young Roots; Townscape Heritage initiative; Your Heritage. www.hlf.org.uk

Arts Council – Grants for Arts. Activities that benefit people or that help artists and art organisations to carry out their own work. Minimum grant is likely to be £200 and the largest in the region £200,000. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Funding for skate park projects
Gravity Engineering Ltd, a manufacturer of concrete and steel skate parks, is looking to sponsor new skate park projects with donations towards funding of up to £5,000 per project: http://www.gravityparks.co.uk/

Free Website Offer for Your Partnership or Community Group
The Devon Towns Forum is offering all of Devon’s Community Partnerships and Community Groups the chance to apply for a free Website and Training Package worth over £600: info@devontownsforum.org.uk

The Co-operative Community Fund
Community groups, voluntary groups, self-help groups, community charities or local branches of national charities are eligible to apply for grants of between £100 and £2,000. www.co-operative.coop/membership/Community-Fund/

South West Loans Fund
The South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) has announced the launch of a new £10m South West Loans Fund which is now available to help growth-oriented business with viable business plans, as part of the drive for economic recovery. www.businesslink.gov.uk/southwest

Greater Dartmoor LEAF
Greater Dartmoor LEAF is a new publicly funded organisation which has been set up to identify and fund environmental and innovative projects and businesses which will increase the future prosperity of the wider community, within the Greater Dartmoor area of Devon. www.greaterdartmoorLEAF.org.uk

The Future Jobs Fund
The Future Jobs Fund is a new initiative, which will help to generate jobs for those in greatest need, particularly young people, and also in areas of high unemployment. This aims to create 150,000 jobs providing real help for young people and who face significant disadvantages in the labour market. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/futurejobsfund

The Big Lottery Fund and Channel 4s’ The Secret Millionaire have teamed up to give viewers a chance to access funding worth £1 million in grants of between £300 and £10,000. http://secretmillionaire.channel4.com/fund_info.shtml

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A few things over on D+CFilm have caught our eye this week, not least South West Screen’s notion that naming something after a Devon myth alienates people from up-country.

Exeter filmmaker Ashley Thorpe has funding for the latest in his Penny Dreadful series The Hairy Hands from the regional champion (that’s a reference to South West Screen, by the way), but they want to change the title to something, well, a little less Devon.

“I think they’re missing the point and the source of the appeal,” says writer, director and independent filmmaker of the year award winner, who’s recently had his films shown at Cannes, Ashley.

We say it sounds like the thin edge of the culturally homogenized wedge. Have your say over on D+CFilm.

Also on the site is a behind the scenes of the latest Ashley Wing film Robbing Peter, a darkly humorous tale from what we can gather (and a bit of a who’s who in the South Devon filmmaking scene).

Other stories include the announcement of a screenwriter talk at the Exeter Phoenix and a documentary filmmaking course as part of the Dartmoor Arts Summer School.

Got films or film stories, get in touch with D+CFilm on info@devon-cornwall-film.co.uk

posted by Cptn

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Devon County Council is up to win £30,000 for its Renewable Energy for Devon scheme in the local authority section of the famed Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2009, which take place in London on Thursday, June 11.

The RE4D scheme (the catchy little monica for Renewable Energy for Devon) muscled its way into the finalist position with the claims of an impressive 109 renewable energy installations in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and community organisations, and a further 18 in domestic properties.

With the creation of 55 jobs, and a further 16 safeguarded through the scheme, you’d think there’d be more crowing about the scheme, which has provided £0.25m in grants and helped secure £0.81m of other funding.

RE4D was launched in 2006 to create jobs and reduce the county’s carbon footprint, and it aims to stimulate demand and build up capacity. It seems to have gone some way with that – to date the figures show a total of installed capacity of over 2 MW, avoiding around 1,300 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions.

Other finalist in the local authority category is Kirklees Council, Huddersfield, for its free-for-all insulation programme.

posted by Cptn

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Think of a cattle market café and a slightly shabby eatery serving doorstep sandwiches and caustic tea might come to mind – ubiquitous welly-boots and associated manure making for surroundings that are more sterile than welcoming. So the Cattle Market Café in Tavistock is a bit of a welcome surprise.

With local artwork (currently Frances Thomas) covering the walls and an imaginative menu (including the highly-recommended spinach cheesecake with basil), it is easy to forget that the café overlooks pens, which may well have been a stopping-off point for the raw ingredients in the lamb rissoles. Customers, farming and non-farming, are made to feel equally welcome. And the floors, I’m pleased to report, are sparkling clean.

The café, run by Jane Osborne of Food Dreckly, is proud of its ‘Eat local, eat seasonally and when we can’t do that eat/drink Fairtrade’ ethos; a planter full of tasty leaves by the front door café currently provides interest in the salads and the origins of the local ingredients used in CM dishes are proudly displayed on the Food Dreckly website.

Artist displays change regularly, providing an excellent excuse to drop in. There is, however, a restricted menu on Market Days.

Based in Tavistock, but a short walk out from the main drag of shops (and well-placed for a guilt-relieving hike on the moor afterwards), the Cattle Market Café won a silver Taste of the West award in 2008.

• UPDATE: as of late January 2011, the Cattle Market Cafe is under new management. Here’s the new link to their site: www.thecattlemarketcafe.co.uk/

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It’s day two of Walk to School Week, and this year’s theme, Walk ‘n’ Talk, is giving rise to a Devon County Council competition to design a cartoon journey to school which features a speech bubble conversation. It all sounds like a great photo-story opportunity to the former ‘Jackie’ readers in the PRSD offices.

Most Devon schools have a Travel Plan, through which they promote sustainable school travel, include the TravelWise award for the school and the Walk the Wizard Way for students.

With air quality is creeping up the political agenda, sustainable travel, especially to school, could well feature more heavily in campaigns.

posted by Cptn

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The Exeter firm Nutshell Natural Paints are up for an Award for Environmental Responsibility.

The prize, sponsored by Envision and Global Action Plan, is one on offer in the FSB Devon Business Awards.

Managing director Alan Back told thisisexeter: “We are delighted to be nominated for this award. Nutshell Natural Paints are dedicated to showing our customers that a sustainable future is nothing to be afraid of, but rather something that we can all look forward to.”

posted by Cptn

• Any more environmentally strong firms we should know about?

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Hospitals in Devon are set to introduce a recycling initiative that will reduce the NHS’s carbon footprint.

Across the county, 21 community hospitals run by Devon Primary Care Trust and Devon Partnership Trust will increase the amount of waste they can recycle by segregating it.

The recycling scheme, to be overseen by Mid Devon Community Recycling, will include the safe recycling of electrical equipment, as well as paper, cardboard, plastic, tins, aluminium drink cans, glass, batteries, printer cartridges, hand towels, newspapers and magazines.

Devon is the first PCT in the South West to award a recycling contract in place of domestic waste arrangements.

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The parade’s on!

A parade, which will also celebrate Lammas, will mark the start of Exeter Summer Festival, and incorporate large-scale sculptures, banners, masks and music from schools and communities throughout the city.

The parade, and workshops, are available because the city council managed to pick up a Grants for the Arts Award, which Exeter City Council.

The themes of big colourful things made by the community will run throughout the parade and  the free evening party on the Quay.

The itinerary for the event reads thusly (notice the proclamation type langauge):

At midday on Friday, June 12, The Lord Mayor of Exeter, accompanied by a colourful circus-themed parade, will be escorted from Paris Street, along the High Street to the Guildhall to read the Lammas proclamation.

Once the parade leaves the Guildhall it will pass through Cathedral Green and the Exeter Craft festival and through Princesshay back to Southernhay.

And the party on the Quay will be rounded off with a firework display.

posted by Cptn

• A parade and party are always good for morale. Any more tips for Summer Festivals? Leave a comment

(image: Exeter Quay, scene of the free party on June 2)

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Exeter-based electronic pop combo Drunk With Joy are in the last 20 of the Red Stripe Awards. We caught up with the enigmatic Mila Oshin to talk her about joy, gigs and how music makes nothing else matter

How would you describe your music?
We didn’t think in advance about what kind of music we were going to produce as a duo, so we’d have to go by what other people have said since our first EP and album came out: industrial and dark but (hopefully) ultimately uplifting downbeat electronica with multi-layered soundscapes which, because of a strong emphasis on lyrical content/songwriting, has something folky as well… ?

What inspires you?
Great music, art, films, books, poetry, nature, strong people who think for themselves, anything or anyone that goes against the warped notion of what life’s about as imprinted on our brains by the media.

You work with the artists group the Joy Collective. Could you explain a little about that, and do you think it has enhanced your live performances?
We share a long-term passion to reclaim popular music as a credible artform and also to increase the accessibility and popularity of other artforms such as visual arts and dance, so performing live as part of the Joy Collective with so many talented emerging artists is a perfect way to combine all our interests and present an exciting new live concept that is so much more than a concert.

Your songs are powerful and dark. How far does your music go to explore themes, like identity?
Any form of art and maybe especially music has the potential to be a powerful platform for social commentary and real change. With that comes a sense of responsibility and for us the quality of lyrical content and the quality of music are therefore equally important. We write critically about themes that we feel strongly about – including identity and our place and conduct in the world as human beings – but we try to do so in a constructive and engaging rather than patronising or negative way.

To date, what’s been your most enjoyable gig?
We’ve only ever done two live gigs (one was the launch of the Joy Collective recently and the Red Stripe Award performance in January) – both were a fantastic experience, but ask us again at the end of the year when we will have done our first UK tour!

Music can be a great escape, where do you escape to?
No need to escape from anything here, everything is fine as it is… Besides, without wanting to sound too intense (too late for that already anyway probably!) we actually prefer music that reconnects you with life rather than music that provides mere entertainment or an escape.

What’s the best thing about making music, and what’s the worst?
Best thing about making music is that words can’t describe what is so good about it. Worst thing about making music is that you can’t stop and often nothing else matters!

What do you listen to pep yourself up and what do you listen to chill yourself out?
The two CDs at the top of the pile currently next to the stereo in our studio are definitely good pep-up and chill-out contenders: Peaches (whose album title I’d better not repeat here) and Toumani Diabaté (The Mandé Variations).

Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Visit the Drunk With Joy website to find out more about us and the Joy Collective.

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Our bookworm buddies at The Torbay Bookshop have been named one of the top independent booksellers in the country again.

The Torbay Bookshop is the only Devon bookshop to have been included in the regional shortlist of the Independent Bookshop of the Year award, organised by the British Book Industry.

Regional winners will be announced at the London book fair, with the overall winner picking up the prize at the British Book Industry Awards in Cambridge on Monday, June 1.

The Torbay Bookshop’s Matthew and Sarah Clarke told the PRSD: “The whole team at The Torbay Bookshop are absolutely delighted to be shortlisted for this prestigious award again.

“We constantly strive to offer the best in bookselling, both in the range of books in stock and in our outstanding customer service, and it is especially pleasing to have this recognition, both for the shop and for Paignton.”

And with their latest string of events starting with a Saturday signing by Devon teen author Luisa Plaja last week, running to Paddy Ashdown on Monday, April 27, there’s certainly an upbeat diversity to their approach. Plus, Sarah writes reviews for us here at the PRSD – a sure-fire winner on any CV!

Today’s signing at the shop is Bret Hawthorne with his new book: Agatha Christie’s Devon.

Read Sarah Clarke’s reviews.

posted by Cptn

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In the competition to be the most eccentric person in Britain, it can be fair to say there are no losers, or more accurately, Barnstaple’s “splendidly eccentric poet” Colin Shaddick came in a strong third, so he got a trophy and a place won a place on the podium, beating back the likes of Lord Bath, Vivienne Westwood and Catherine Tate.

The competition, run by the Eccentric Club, awarded Captain Beany the top prize, with second place going Rob Lowe and a special trophy going to Ray Frensham.

Colin told the PRSD: “This is a great honour for me. The Eccentric Club has revived another great tradition and I was proud to be part of it.

“I would like to thank all those pubs, clubs and open mic sessions (especially in North Devon) that gave me the opportunity to develop my ‘eccentric’ performances. Without them, I would not have received a reward!

“To those establishments who made it clear they didn’t want me: don’t bother asking me now.”

posted by Cptn

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