21 June 2004

Saïd Business School announces new Skoll Director

Oxford's Saïd Business School has announced the appointment of Rowena Young as the director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship.

Rowena will join the centre in September, leaving her current post as Chief Executive at the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) in London.

During her time with the SSE, Rowena led the School in playing an important role in the future development and expansion of the social enterprise sector through her role in initiatives such as the Social Enterprise Coalition, where she is a board member. She also oversaw a period of major consolidation among the network of six SSEs around the UK, contributing to the group's sustainability and building secure foundations for further growth.

On her move, Rowena comments: "The Skoll Centre represents a fantastic opportunity to develop cutting-edge initiatives in social entrepreneurship and I am hugely attracted to its internationalism. In the UK we can feel very cut off from inspiring developments overseas, though experience tells us there are valuable lessons to learn. We also need to attract talent from new sources if we are to realise the potential of social enterprise."

Dean of Saïd Business School, Anthony Hopwood added: "We are delighted that Rowena is joining us to head up the initiatives of the Skoll Centre and play a key role in developing social entrepreneurship as a global discipline through a focused business education programme, collaborating with practitioners and other academics worldwide."

"Social entrepreneurship is a growing international trend and increasingly business educators are incorporating the discipline into their core curricula. Just as entrepreneurs have changed the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, inventing new approaches and creating sustainable solutions to change society for the better. We are convinced that Rowena will help us in continuing to bring the topic of social entrepreneurship to the fore."

Prior to her time at the SSE, Rowena was development director at Kaleidoscope, a leading drug treatment service in London. In that role she worked to develop and raise resources for an inspiring new learning centre and residential rehabilitation service. She also launched Simplyworks, a web-enabling business creating training and employment for long-term drug users.

In 2002 she published From War to Work: drug treatment, social inclusion and enterprise with the Foreign Policy Centre. This drew on Kaleidoscope's experience and lessons from overseas - particularly Asia.

She has also worked for Children's Express, a national news agency run by children and young people - where successes included helping children to shape government policy on disadvantaged neighbourhoods and teenage pregnancy, and place their work in prime news and current affairs outlets such as the Observer and Today - and at the think tank Demos.

Rowena is a judge of the Guardian's Public Service Awards, DTI's Enterprising Solutions Awards and New Statesman Upstarts Awards, and a Commissioner on the JRF Independent Inquiry on Drug Testing at Work. She is a trustee of Children's Express and advisor to MySociety.org which exploits ICT for social benefit at very little unit cost per additional person served.

Rowena will maintain a relationship with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, continuing to tutor students and work on research.

For further information please contact Kathryn Smith, Tel: 01865 288838 or email:

Kathryn.smith@sbs.ox.ac.uk