SEPTEMBER 2016

Showcasing Social Enterprise

in Aotearoa New Zealand

Transition
not-for
-prots

Community
enterprises

Joint
ventures

Social
business
start-ups

Impact magazine is an
occasional series highlighting
the incredible achievements of
the long-standing and rapidly
growing social enterprise sector
in NewZealand.
Issued by kina Foundation, it
features interviews with social
enterprise leaders around the
country and shares insights
into ways to help advance the
sector.
This edition features CBEC, an
organisation that kina has
worked with since 2014.

Mori
enterprise

CBECs Healthy Homes team has insulated

5,000 Northland homes since 2008.

Creating jobs in Kaitaia

Cliff Colquhoun works with million
dollar men and women every day.
The Community, Business and Environment
Centre (CBEC) CEO says thats what he calls
the people the team works with.
Thats what I call the people we help into
employment the million dollar men and
women.
A few years ago, he analysed five of the
crew to better understand their history
of unemployment. The analysis showed
Colquhoun that these people would have cost
about a million dollars each in benefits and
related costs over their lifetimes.
More important than cost, though, is
social wellbeing that comes from full time
employment, says Colquhoun. Social
wellbeing includes the individual affected and
the effect on the whole community that gains
from having a healthy society.

kina is a Mori word meaning a call for bold action. It also conveys a spirit of watchful and
active encouragement, helping others to identify pathways through their challenges.
Find out more about social enterprise in NewZealand and other ventures at:
www.akina.org.nz, email info@akina.org.nz or phone 04 384 9676.

Social justice is at the heart of CBEC its

what motivates us. And to get it right, our
society needs full employment but we dont
believe it is possible anymore. I grew up in a
New Zealand that expected full employment.
You just assumed you would work. But now,
30 years on, society has gradually accepted a
different view on work, its ok to have people

sitting at home unemployed.

On top of that, Colquhoun says, CBEC is
motivated to reverse the trend of losing locally
owned enterprises.
Marquee hire why would we take on this
new business? Well it was going to be sold out
of town so we formed a joint venture and kept
it local we kept local jobs.
Now CBEC has a seasonal business that
compliments their existing labour hire
business, employing two fulltime equivalents
and two seasonal workers.
Based in Kaitaia in the Far North, CBEC is one
of the towns larger employers and were at
80 permanent staff plus casual employees
at their peak. They recently lost a major
contract the councils waste management
and recycling and have dropped to 45
permanent employees but are in a mini
growth spurt.
We have just set up a cycle hire business in
Whangarei, Kawakawa and Kaitaia and took
over operational management of a fourth
public swimming pool in December.
Colquhoun says CBEC has proven community
enterprise can be a significant employer and a
key element of a healthy economy.
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Then we often see recycling services reduce and

a lack of innovation to achieve even higher levels
of waste minimisation. Communities aim has
always been zero waste. Waste companies have
little concern about this.
However, Colquhoun feels hopeful change is
on the way. He says Auckland City Council has
just done quality work on new procurement and
tender guidelines.
This creates an equal opportunity for community
enterprises to win a tender.
Colquhoun says the best action Government can
take is to immediately look at their procurement
policies.
Kaitaia Pool, managed by CBEC

If we carried out a full analysis of the value

community enterprise brings, we would find
that not only are their social and environmental
benefits substantial, but with true financial
evaluation the economics stack up as well.

Weve created local jobs by saving saving

He says community enterprise in NZ doesnt
energy and recycling waste its another way have this influence.
of looking at economics. Economic growth
as a measure of community prosperity in the
In NZ we have only three recognised sectors
Western world is an illusion. If we separated
to our economy; public, private and volunteer.
out negative growth, e.g. policing, health
Community enterprise doesnt fit these
treatments and natural disasters, we would
sectors.
find we are in the negative. We have proven
there is serious, sustainable employment
Somebody said to me once that were seen
possible and economic prosperity from
as a business by charity and as a charity by
redirecting spending wed like to do more.
business.
His own estimates are that someone
But community enterprise requires a different
unemployed probably costs society around
approach by central and local government.
$1,000 a week once all costs are taken into
account. Colquhoun says there is a better way
Community enterprises are high achievers so
to use this spending but the key barrier is a
supporting this sector is worth the investment.
lack of understanding.
Where the public and private sectors struggle,
community enterprise is able to make
Central and local government have not got
changes and improvements to communities.
their heads around community enterprise.
Were not a business or the voluntary sector.
Central and local government tenders present
Our sole purpose is to serve our community
an opportunity says Colquhoun. Community
100% of what we earn goes back into our
enterprise can struggle to win contracts
community through the development of local
that are focused only on financial costs and
goods and services.
not wider value. The loss of their recycling
contract is a classic example of that, he says.
Two years ago, Colquhoun visited the UK
on a Churchill fellowship examining social
When recycling was new in New Zealand, all
enterprise.
around the country community enterprises
like ours took the risk and got it going in
Some are more than 100 years old thats
partnership with councils we set the
a lot of opportunity to influence central and
standards. But now its established and goes
local government policy. We havent cracked
out to tender, we dont win them as large
that yet in NZ.
waste companies undercut recycling costs.
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In the past 25 years, he says CBEC has survived

and grown, without much government support,
to have a major impact. A little more attention to
develop a strong community enterprise network
nationally will make all the difference, starting
with understanding.

CBEC
Established in
Operating model

1989
Co-operative society
with registered
charitable status

Number employed

45 permanent, plus
casual employees

Annual turnover

$3.5 million (current

years budget)

Website

www.cbec.co.nz

CBEC CEO Cliff

Colquhoun

Australia is making impressive progress with embracing social

procurement, says kina Foundation CEO Alex Hannant. New
Zealand can learn from the way this approach to tendering,
contracting and job creation can make a difference to
challenging social conditions.

Using the power of purchasing to make a difference

Social procurement is achieving results with
what were considered wicked economic and
social issues, says Social Traders Australias
head of Market and Sector Development Mark
Daniels.
Organisations are starting to use procurement
as a positive discrimination in the marketplace.
Mark says there may have been a slow start, but
Federal and State governments are now finding
social procurement is a strategic tool for social
and economic outcomes.
The introduction of Federal legislation, the
Indigenous Procurement Policy, last year has
been a game changer.
In Australia, its becoming quite a normal part
of Government. Now 3% of procurement is
required to be from Indigenous businesses. Even
when contracting a commercial organisation,
3% of their supply chain is covered.
Mark says in the first six months,
$90m has been spent with
Indigenous businesses.
Its a complete change-up in
economic participation and
Indigenous entrepreneurship in
Australia. Plus its stimulating
innovation with joint ventures
between Indigenous and nonIndigenous businesses were
going to learn a lot through this.
This push is also influencing
workforce targets in major
infrastructure projects,
including targets
to employ
long-term
unemployed
and in some
instances this

includes specific requirements and weightings

for social enterprise in supply chains.
In Geelong, a city of about 100,000 an hour out
of Melbourne, Mark says the community was
concerned by potential economic slowdown
and jobs losses after it lost the Ford plant and an
Alcoa aluminium smelter.
They got 21 large organisations together,
including government, and agreed to use their
buying power to buy locally, with a particular
focus on creating employment in the two most
marginalised postcodes. Through this they
have identified they have $1.5b collectively of
procurement spend to prioritise.
We have found some problems cant be fixed
by throwing wads of money at them however,
procurement is having more effect than running
expensive programmes.
Procurement is more about value than price,
even thought it has often been interpreted as
price, he says.
The challenge is that process drives the
traditional procurement model. Procurement
people arent always comfy with grey, which
social procurement can sometimes appear.
We need to make it easy as possible through
using clear evaluation criteria to get the policy
right. And we need to create a buzz so social
procurement becomes normal, and there is less
resistance from the conservative.

Why social enterprise?

Social enterprises use commercial models to deliver
on social and environmental goals. They can use
a variety of legal structures including companies,
charitable trusts, joint ventures, and collectives.

Social &
environmental
impact

Commercial
methods +
financially
self-sustaining

The advantage social enterprises present

is that they deliver:
Inclusive economic development: fostering
entrepreneurship, creating jobs, and tackling
disadvantage

The kina Foundation

supports people with ideas
to drive positive social and
environmental change through
social enterprise.
Its vision is for a sustainable,
prosperous and inclusive world.
kina offers workshops, oneon-one support, consultancy
and investment services,
regional and national
partnerships, accelerator
programmes and international
connections, and works with a
wide range of organisations all
around NewZealand.

Innovation: solving persistent social and

environmental problems in new ways, and
Independence: proliferating local solutions
that harness community ideas, resources, and
leadership.

As Mark says, 10 years ago procurement started

to engage beyond price and risk.
We saw procurement start to incorporate
anti-slavery and environmental requirements
that werent there in 1996. Now in 2016 its not
unusual to see social benefit suppliers and job
targets as part of tender requirements.
This is a disruptive movement and building it
takes time. But the value is so great that this will
become the norm.

Mark Daniels, Social Traders Australia

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\Get involved!
Register for an intro workshop, apply for coaching,
sign up for the kina newsletter, get involved as a
mentor or volunteer, or find out how to invest in
social enterprise.
email info@akina.org.nz

phone 04 384 9676

www.akina.org.nz