The Tribe We Lead
When Seth Godin talks about tribe, we learn a new concept. We always struggled to define ourselves.
We knew the word, but had never thought of ourselves as a tribe. We are thrilled to say that we are contributing to the movement of people who have a positive social impact.
We are part of the tribe of people who make social change happen, very much like the Linchpin Magazine.
Our purpose is to do good, and to do what ought to be done, as Muhammad Yunus did with micro-finance. In his talk at Duke University, he explains how experts told him it was foolish to give loans to the poor, yet he succeeded both in Bangladesh and in New York.
The problems we love
Some people hate problems; we love them, because it means we can find a solution for them.
I remember being 7 with my parents on holidays. We had to take a bus for 3h, and my dad gave me a riddle. It was just impossible! Until the penny dropped and suddenly it all felt so damn simple. At Seeducation, we love finding solutions and making them happen. Look at a poster than was hanging at the Gujarat University in Ahmedabad, India. We feel inspired by this message.
What do we believe in?
1. Sustainability
Every solution must be sustainable, otherwise… well, it’s not long lasting really! That’s why we highly support the social enterprise model. It must generate profit and become self sustainable while doing social good. We believe everyone ought to be able to earn a living from doing what they love, while having a positive social impact.
“When business meets charity” Seeducation talk at Buckingham University
2. Organismics
We look at all challenges and situations in an organismics way: like your heart and lungs cooperate, social issues cannot be put in silos. We look at the situation in a broad perspective and tackle the challenge from different angles. It’s not “find the problem and nuke it” technique!
Book on Organismics by Rob Weston, serial eco-entrepreneur
3. Chaordic
The command and control methods works very well in some cases, but for the challenges we’re facing now, we need a better “leadership technology”. Wikipedia is a perfect example of it: it’s purely chaordic. A perfect balance between an ordered and well organised infrastructure that is flexible enough to host the chaos of millions of users cooperating around the world. No single organisation can solve any social issue. If we want to succeed, we need to cooperate chaordically.
Birth of the Chaordic Age by Dee Hock, founder of VISA
Read more about the ways we communicate and what we call “English 2.0″, the Prezi of a talk given at UnLtd.
No, why should anyone care?
Someone has to do something about all problems our society faces, from education to poverty and crime. For the moment, the government takes 22% to 40% of tax and does a terrible job at it. If you earn £30k, you will pay around £270,000 of tax in your lifetime; if you earn £60k, you will pay around £820,000 of tax in your lifetime: we ought to care about why they need this money.
For every progress we make in solving a social challenge, we will campaign and lobby the government to reduce the tax needed to solve that particular challenge as we will have made improvements and it won’t require their time and money.
If we all cooperate, put our knowledge, skills, expertise and passion for positive social change, we will reduce tax to a minimum and have a healthier society.
What do we do?
1. 1 year Dream 2 Reality
We are going to pay people to participate in an intensive 1 year programme. The course will be about how to start a movement and run a successful social enterprise. The course will require £65h a week, and will result in each participants having run their social enterprise for at least 4 months. Read more.
2. Free Learning Hub
The whole of the 1 year Dream 2 Reality programme will be open source, and available on our free learning hub for anyone to use, copy and improve. We have already 15h of talks including a speech by Jon Wright on how Innocent Drink received $30 million investment from Coca Cola. Check our learning hub for relaxation tape, podcasts on how to build relations, and more.
Check the TED talk by Noam Kostucki, co-founder of Seeducation
Matt Ridley, author of the Origins of Virtue and the Rational Optimist has also decided to support us and gave us the last funds needed to register as an official charity: Thank you Matt!
3. SeedPro
To be fully sustainable, we have a company that delivers professional services that includes training, coaching, consulting, web design and internet marketing. Each of these services will help the client increase their profit while having a more significant positive social impact. We haven’t yet launched the website, and we are proud to say that thanks to word of mouths, we have already 7 clients. A third of the income goes to the Seeducation charity.
The first completed job was a video for SOFII, the Showcase of Fundraising Innovations and Ideas. The only complain was that we charged them too little! Ken Burnett kindly made a donation to Seeducation to show his support: Thank you Ken!
4. Support Projects
For organisations that cannot afford to pay for our services, we will have a barter programme in which organisations can either pay our help forward by helping another organisation.
We will also give them the possibility to help us help others while using their skills and expertise. This is a sustainable way to give high quality professional services to organisations that cannot afford it. Check the projects we have.
Who are we?
The core team is composed of 3 people who work full time on Seeducation on top of other jobs that help pay the bills 
Sebastien Powell
Jean-Sebastien (“Seb”) is currently working as the marketing manager for a fast-growing, successful start-up called Webtogs (www.webtogs.co.uk); an online only retailer for outdoor gear and clothing, whilst completing a Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) at the University of Bath. In the past, he has worked in retail, financial services, sales and education and has been involved in various charities and social projects. He aspires to work on projects that will make a difference and contribute to society in a positive way. Along with Seeducation, he is also working on various other personal projects, including a freelance marketing agency in bath.
“Starting a company has been my greatest aspiration for as long as I can remember. At the same time, I have always wanted to start up my own charity / social enterprise and Seeducation has given me that opportunity. Over the past few years, I have gained a good amount of experience in the entrepreneurial world, by working on various personal projects as well as through contact with talented, successful and experienced people. I have developed some experience in education, having taught English in Poland for a period of four months. Going to University has made me realise that the educational system is far from perfect and I am eager to work on developing a better solution”.
Contact details:
Email: seb@seeducation.org
LinkedIn:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sebpowell
Ruben Kostucki
Ruben Kostucki is the Search Marketing Manager in an innovative technology company (
www.earthtone.net), finishing a Masters in Biochemical Engineering at the University of Bath. The recipient of numerous academic scholarships and prizes for meritorious results, he recently received a “best employee of the year” award for his work in a online charity (
www.ourfutureplanet.org). Despite being a top academic achiever, he wished to have had a more diverse and tailored education, and now dreams of offering others an alternative to the current education system.
“Since my first young enterprise experience at the age of 14, I have been highly enthusiastic and grew the ambition to become an entrepreneur. I worked in a Nepali orphanage and volunteered as a consultant for the National Youth Music Project because I have the passion and determination to have a positive impact on society. While in my second year at University, I trained undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD students on key business skills, specialising in public speaking and presentation skills. I even received the Best Student Trainer Award and I am eager to empower people to reach their full potential.”
Contact details
Noam Kostucki
Noam started his coaching journey when he began to teach judo at fifteen.
He is the training consultant for the Directory of Social Change and is developing the first-ever two days course focused on the Web 2.0 and Social Media at the Institute of Fundraising in the UK.
Since finding his passion for people and organisational development, he has trained over four thousand people in thirteen countries, serving institutions such as Yale University, HP and the British Heart Foundation.
“Being a very practical thanks to my engineering background I have taken my passion professionally and headed my own corporate training and executive coaching venture in Poland. I have delivered training and coaching for AIESEC (world’s largest student organization, www.aiesec.org) for the past 5 years. I have given judo training for 8 years. Despite dropping out of Bristol University I am thrilled to have trained at Yale University in 2005, in a number of universities in India and Poland, and recently at the London School of Economics for the LSE Entrepreneurship Society. Having worked as a trainer and coach in 12 countries, I have had the privilege of speaking at over 15 international conferences, trained and coached over 3,000 people. I am proud to have received a merit scholarship for RealAcad, a venture management program in 2006, and recently for Common Purpose leadership programme“.
Tell us what you think we should be doing
We look forward to hear from you as to
• how we can do what we do better
• how you can help us have even more positive social impact
• or to tell us anything else!
Thanks for reading us. Your vote will help us help more people and faster.
Who already supports Seeducation?
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“I support the efforts of Seeducation as I see myself in the near future piloting a similar initiative in my coutnry of origin, Romania. In this endeavor, I see the two organizations partnering under the umbrella of the same mission, and that is to drive change through having a major observable impact in the educaiton sector and in the education process of individuals of all ages across countries, cultures and realities. I believe that what is considered even a minor change in this area will bounce back as a huge return on investment in the state of the world today. I believe that the need of this change is major and urgent therefore we should waste no time in creating the momentum of this change to come across. And if Seeducation is involved in creating this movement, I am supporting it fully.”
Monica Costea, AIESEC International Director
Monica is the Central and Eastern Europe Director for AIESEC International. She has overviewed AIESEC in 27 countries and achieved a 50% growth in a year with her international team. AIESEC is the world’s largest student-run organization. Active in over 1700 universities across more than 107 countries, their international plaform enables young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact in society. Monica has traveled to 30 countries in the past 3 years for conferences and support visits around management matters for AIESEC, giving her a vast understanding of students reality and their needs.
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“A lot of people say it’s time to recast the mould of education – what I like about this team is that they’ve actually started thinking how that might happen. I’ve worked with thousands of entrepreneurs around the world since we set up www.pembridge.net nearly ten years ago and I’m always struck by the fact that it’s often the folks who had a different outlook, a different upbringing, a different set of expectations who get things done. They just seem to have the most to offer in terms of new ideas and energy and those are the people Seeducation will most benefit. Seeducation is proposing something truly radical and, just like anyone with a new idea, it will take a while for them to prove the model and get it just right. But I have a hunch these guys will do that. One way or another, you are going to hear a lot more about Seeducation and the people they’ve inspired and empowered.”
Hugh Mason, Pembridge Partners LLP, Partner and Business Angel
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“Great concept, excellent team, what more do I need to say? In times of change and deep revolution of consciousness in people it is urgent to start changing the ways we educate our children, the time we take to understand them in order to help them follow their heart, their passions and their truly talents instead of some social creed in a form of sucess for life in a career we think it’s the best for them. There is not a way that leeds to happiness that is not called by our heart. Therefore for believing that this project was born from your passion and love for education and commitment to lead the change and to do something tangible and concrete to society, i support and endorse your cause.”
Rob Phelps, NetZen Solutions Ltd. – Director, BinarySoft Ltd. – Director
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“It’s about time something was done about the way education is organised and valued. Knowing the minds, spirit, and heart of the team behind Seeducation, I’m confident they
will go a long way in making that happen.”
Mart van de Ven, Linguistic Consultant for SME
M.Phil Linguistics – University of Hong Kong MSc Information and Knowledge Management – Loughborough University BA European Studies – University of Maastricht Organising a conference on sustainability and intergenerational justice – Setting up a framework for ontology engineering
“In J-CEDO education is the contineous exchange of knowledge regardless of age, race or culture. Where possible it should be a freely recieved freely give to atain the fullest capacity of our intellect. I believe with the input of those who can afford and support the ideology of seeducation the future of the whole world will be peace and hamony.”
Ms J. G., Founder of J-CEDO
A successful NGO in West Africa dedicated to rural grass root development using local raw materials to generat employment for income and well being of individual, groups or a whole community willing and eager for knowledge & leadership in their development.
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“The hardest step in starting your own organisation is that initial push. The risk of it all going wrong and ending up destitute destroys many ideas and ideals. By helping people through this stage and providing them incentive and financial security you are removing some of this element. “
James Copeman, Strategic Analyst
“Seeducation aims at enabling social talent. It will have my support because I do not think the world has educated sufficient social leaders yet.”
Michael Wieser, Kabel-X Vermarktungs GmbH, Managing Director
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“If the Seeducation concerns only UK, I would like to help to spread to rest of Europe, especially Poland”
Aleksandra Kosinska
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“I think this initiative is needed for nowadays society and I fully support it.”
HR Professional
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“In times of change and deep revolution of consciousness in people it is urgent to start changing the ways we educate our children, the time we take to understand them in order to help them follow their heart, their passions and their truly talents instead of some social creed in a form of success for life in a career we think it’s the best for them. There is not a way that leads to happiness that is not called by our heart. Therefore for believing that this project was born from your passion and love for education and commitment to lead the change and to do something tangible and concrete to society, I support and endorse your cause.”
Cristina Silva, Management Degree at Instituto Superior De Economia e Gestão
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“I am supporting Seeducation because I believe it is a great project run by extra-ordinary people who have the vision, they know what they want, they are full of passion and they do
a great job.”
Pawel P, Student at KNSS UMCS
“Seb has worked with us this year and provided an invaluable contribution to the business.
We look forward to working with him again.”
Richard Jonathan Hodges, CTO Webtogs Ltd
“Great! Recognition that if education isn’t providing what is needed in young men and women, then something should be done about it.”
Rashwan Jalal, Graduate Engineer at Scott Wilson
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“I want to encourage new ideas, innovation, future education, research in education.”
Beatrice Godlewicz, Trainer, Coach, Therapist at Veillance
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“This is exactly the kind of direction society should be going in! i would support the program in any way i could!”
David Kanfer, Student.
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“In a very short space of time, I have witnessed the Seeducation team transform a small idea of something they truly believe in, into an organisation that will very soon be offering a unique and practical alternative to students who would otherwise be put off by the current further and higher education system. There could not be better driving force behind the group of individuals involved in launching Seeducation, and their work will prove a real benefit not only for those who partake in the course, but for the wider society too. “
Rudy Loeb
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“It is all said in this quote: ?Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have? by M. Mead”
Adam Gieniusz, Managing Director, Arthya Learning Solutions
- Managing Director/ Arthya Learning Solutions – Coaching Support Group Leader (Warsaw)/ Noble Manhattan Coaching Ltd. – Board Member/ Responsible Business Institute (Poland)
Someone has to do something about all problems our society faces, from education to poverty and crime. For the moment, the government takes 22% to 40% of tax and does a terrible job at it. If you earn £30k, you will pay around £270,000 of tax in your lifetime; if you earn £60k, you will pay around £820,000 of tax in your lifetime: we ought to care about why they need this money.
BRILLIANT!!! keep it up guys, hope you ll win this…
These guys are so driven and really deserve to win! Come ooooon!
yeah, I totally agree that winning would make SUCH a big difference for us that we really deserve it
We’re doing the most we can to have a positive impact and we can change so many people’s lives 
Love your ideas!
Can virtual challenge offers awaken assets for SEEDucation projects?
A visual on a pay-forward system sparked by microscholarships and telework offers is here –
http://www.openworld.com/accessing-openworld-challenge
A fuller description on microcatalysts for self-organizing communities is at:
http://j.mp/aSKLHX
Look forward to your thoughts!
Best,
Mark Frazier
@openworld (twitter)
[...] battle to become the Linchpin Magazine charity, the poll closed a short while ago at midnight, and Seeducation took it with 15 votes. Thank you to all 2,608 who cared enough to vote. Thank you to Child’s [...]