Bromley-by-Bow

I am in the middle of reading Andrew Mawson's The Social Entrepreneur. Making Communities Work. I tried to read this story about a month ago and failed to get into it. Now that I am doing this stuff, I can't put the book down. It's Andrew's story of developing the fantastic entrepreneurial work at Bromley-by-Bow. It could easily have been entitled: The Struggle-by-Bow.For,indeed, the process he describes toward Social Enterprise was anything but easy.

Andrew's entrepreneurial commitment is evident throughout this book. He keeps referring to the need to allow the entrepreneur the freedom, the wings, to fly. What better place than in the church community to foster such an environment. I feel a kinship to Andrew.

Let me get to my point, though. It's this quote which stands out from the stories Andrew tells:

In Bromley-by-Bow, my aim became to firmly nurture an entrepreneurial culture, in which people from all kinds of different backgrounds would work together to fashion their own futures. My hope was that, in working hard and creatively, and engaging with the messy details, we would build physical structure that actually worked in practice and that were run and used by the people who believed in, and had an investment in, creating a successful, large-scale future. In staying with the aspirations, passions, hopes and fears of the people who live in 'forgotten' places, and helping them to take the raw material and talent they already have and use it in a truly creative new way, we would also build a team, build a common purpose: build a strong community.

I love this dream of Andrew Mawson and make it mine. Now I got to get back to my reading to see how he does it (or should I say, how it gets done).

Ronaldo

4/4/09