Cliff Southcombe

Cliff Southcombe is the Managing Director of Social Enterprise International Ltd.  For the past 20 years his company has introduced and developed the concept of social enterprise in over 45 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Promoting the idea that best practice in all business is governance by ethics, values and social objectives and management should be through democratic and inclusive structures.

He leads a team of 20 leading experts based in Europe, South America and Asia. The Company has active Social Licences with a number of other international companies with shared values and objectives.  He is also a Founder of the FairShares movement and is currently developing a new Shared Wealth Social Enterprise model

 Born in India but based in the UK, Cliff is one of the founders of the Social Enterprise movement in the UK in the early 90s. Previously he was manager of England’s first Community Cooperative in the 1980s and was a founder of the community enterprise movement.  He set up a successful managed workspace company in the 1990s.  He has pioneered work on legal structures, social auditing and social licensing and new practices on social enterprise governance and management.  He designed and delivered the first accredited courses in social enterprise management.

He lives in Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire where he helped his own community set up a successful broadband social enterprise.