A recorded podcast from the founder President Mr Sinna Mani signalling how the organisation should change in the future. Open Link 

The BOPIO Chennai chapter started on November 25, 2017.  This WORKSHOP was organised to explain the BOPIO transition as an organisation from a member based NGO to a sercive provider. 

Change is a trithlon. The British Organisation of People of Indian Sub-Continental Origin  is a large and complex network expaning over nearly forty years. During it's course it has undergone multiple changes. The process is lengthy and as a practioner I understan that ambiquity and contradictions are inherent. My prime objective is to focus on those organisations, stakeholders, sponsors and individuals who care about what the vision of BOPIO is.  When the vision is aligned then we can try to talk about it. In my own experience CEO's can be extrovert or introvert and stylistic diffrences how things work in UK for example is different to other countries so understanding the people and their opinions on sustainabilty may differ. In this case it is not a one-size-fit all approach. The following format is embedded in BOPIO culture. Here I have explained what sustainbilty means to the organisation and what tools and approaches are used so that a shared vision with new organisations.   

How to develop a social enterprise and making sustainability stick

Information Architecture  about how BOPIO will work in the future

Social Enterprise = Joint Planning.

Previously the organisation was working with partners, local managers, sponsors, government officials, media, NGO’s and many other bodies and will continue in the same vein. However, strategic thinking under the new formula will require planning through challenges and expected anticipations. But, also the site, processes and human investment will need to be considered for a particular project.

There are two models of strategy: They are,  firstly integration and intersection of profits plus a social cause. Secondly, reinterpretation model which works with creativity to lower costs and spread outcomes thereby utilizing the maximum economies of scale. The new model devised for BOPIO will weave a social and a business system to optimise a profit. There are multiplicities of challenges for the practioner. For example a proper selection of partners; a cluster of strong and tight networks; six or seven NGO’s who are aligned with BOPIO vision and can bring diverse skills and abilities.

Priorities of the Organisation

I have chosen a Triple bottom L Ine approach which is based on a performance measurement (PM) based approach. It is common knowledge that what gets measured gets done. The performance can be structured to do team work, individual or an organisation levels. A measure, metric should be precise, reliable,  easy to calculate, collect and understand.   TBL approach is based on efficiency and vitality of a project.

Evaluation: This can be achieved if the supporting structure of  BOPIO goals plus measurement is equal to the expected behaviour. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the goals, vision and supporting structures of the organisation. This is the key question a) What is it the organisation is trying to accomplish and b) what outcomes one is seeking and c) What behaviour is need from people to achieve them.

For this analysis I am using The Balanced Store card Framework by Robert Kaplan and David Norton

In order to deviate the organisation, all the four boxes were to be aligned with the vision and this proved to be the first challenge to strategies BOPIO’s new framework.

To gauge Performance: Financial Performance are absolutely essential. There are two approaches. The Yahoo Finance approach highlights profit margin, and operating margin profitability. The second approach is The Return on Asset (ROA) and The Return on equity (ROE). Both the approaches can gauge an organisations effectiveness. However, for this organisation the ROA and ROE which express profitability as ratios to total assets and shareholder equities respectively.

 How does this work?

- Information is taken from the company's income statement.

- Revenue’s, growth plus gross profit and earnings.

-Operating cash flows plus levered free cash flows that is cash left over after all obligations. 

This is the reason why a TBL approach provides shareholders, accountants and auditors with a financial measurement and accountability which makes the projects sustainable to function over a long term. 

The reason why BOPIO had to move away from the traditional  format was because of the UK's role to the NGO’s it was the responsibility of the third sector role for delivering and supporting the existing Regional Development Agencies (RDA)which have been now abolished. The RDA worked with stake holders, including specialist support agencies to support needs of social enterprise to work in community projects. Keeping the Aims of BOPIO intact the organisation moved away from a traditional set up. Although, in essence BOPIO managed to keep its informal social networks intact but changed the format from Local to Global set up. This means for local social enterprise local firms will band together.

The key question was efficiency and effectiveness and here was another dilemma. IF the funding came directly from the entrepreneur will the future be self-sustaining? Or should the income be generated from selling services.

For the reader there are many ways how revenues can be generated. 

-Revenues come from market resources

-Public sector subsidies

-Private sector sponsorship

-Public donations

-Services from Volunteers

The questions that kept coming to mind were What, Who< Why and How?  I had to devise a business model such that what was the product or service? Who were the customers? Why should there be a link between products and customers and why the compelling reason to buy? How question related to the structure of the organisation, it's operation and its activities for the volunteers.

In a Social Entrepreneurship has to achieve 5 inventory turns in order to operate efficiently.

If you have enjoyed reading then you can book a session how the process works in practise.  

 please open link to book a session : Tickets on Eventbrite 

 Please feel free to watch the feedback reviews for the historic BOPIO Workshop in Chennai . This was the first global workshop expansion of BOPIO. You can hear the views, feedbacks and commens and the interview  with Tamil people by opening the links below. 

BOPIO CHENNAI SOCIAL Enterprise WORKSHOP  held in GUINDY on November 25, 2017 from 2 pm to 5 pm. 

Room Sponsor : Alchemy Solutions Chennai