Q: I run a travel business, organising gap years and other projects, and have a small but productive team of six dynamic staff. Having been in operation for nearly 15 years the company is well known within our close-knit local community but any events we have run have been self-fulfilling. Since the coalition government came into power I have been reading about other businesses getting involved in The Big Society and would like to do the same - but I’m not sure what we could do and cannot afford to simply fritter away our resources. What I need to understand is what does Cameron’s concept of a Big Society mean for businesses and how can it work for a company like mine?
Gayna Hart answers:

With the recession biting harder than ever before I think you are right in thinking that you can’t afford to fritter away precious resources. Small businesses are disappearing by the day. You would be well-served to ensure your existing business survives and continues to provide jobs for the six loyal staff you have.

Could you contribute to the Big Society without risking the success you have achieved to date? It would certainly be a shame to jeopardise your current staff’s future by spreading your team thinner at this time. However, you obviously have strong leadership skills and – I would expect – processes and systems built up and streamlined over 15 years of trading.

So, how about starting a separate not-for-profit social enterprise in the travel sector? The new company could provide travel deals for groups of people who are currently targeted with government funding that is likely to disappear. By this I mean vulnerable groups in your area, such as pensioners and the unemployed, who currently receive subsidised bus travel, for example.

Using your expertise and sharing your existing systems and processes, the separate business entity could require minimal start-up expenditure and reduced running costs. An added Big Society element would be to staff the new venture with trainees who could learn from your existing team. However, don’t underestimate the reduction in productivity that will happen in your existing business as a result. 

If you decide to go ahead, good luck in creating Big Society’s little brother.

Gayna Hart is the managing director of Quicksilva, which she moved from London to Wiltshire in 2009, seeking a better working environment for her employees and to invest in local talent and business. Her engagement with The Big Society includes supporting young entrepreneurial talent in the South West where she talks regularly at local events, mentors students and recruits from her local university.