Posted on 27th March 2008
A feasibility study into a 'social stock exchange' where ethical investors can trade shares in worthy enterprises, was announced at the 2008 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship annual conference today.
Launched at the conference at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, the study into the feasibility of such an exchange is to be funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
The foundation is investing £252,000 and chose the UK as the site for the study partly because of firm government support for social enterprise. Government initiatives have included the creation of a separate form of incorporation for social enterprises as well as plans for a social investment bank funded with unclaimed assets held by financial institutions.
If the study identifies demand for a social stock exchange, then the market would be launched next year.
Leading the research will be Pradeep Jethi, formerly new product development manager at the London Stock Exchange, who devised the idea of a UK social stock exchange.
The social stock exchange would resemble a junior market, accepting businesses with as little as £500,000 annual turnover and two years’ trading history. It would aim to combine profitable trading with social or environmental missions, and include healthcare, first world development projects, clean technologies and help for disadvantaged communities.
