Big Society Capital is a long term project!

It was announced yesterday that the Big Society Bank has changed name to Big Society Capital, with Sir Ronald Cohen as chair and Nick O’Donohoe as chief exec.  A good article explaining the details of the announcement is here. 

CAF Venturesome particuarly welcomes Ronald’s opinion that it is likely to be a “10-20-year project” for the social investment market to become fully mature.  We support this patient approach because the Bank’s mission is to catalyse the growth of a sustainable social investment market - which is fundamentally different to simply growing the volume of capital available.  If speed of growth is prioritised over impact, this could threaten the development of a sustainable social investment market that the strategy is intended to support. 

Even the publication that set out the mission of the Bank, “Growing the Social Investment Market: A Vision and Strategy”, described the development of the social investment market as a “long term project” - so surely the bank will need to exist in the long term too. The bank must focus on the long term vision. 

Keep your eye out for our reaction to more BSC announcements here!