Adele Blakebrough's Biography

   
 Adele Blakebrough

Adele Blakebrough MBE
Co-founder and Chief Executive, CAN

020 7922 7762 (Leah Cook, PA)
a.blakebrough@can-online.org.uk

In 1995, Charlie Leadbeater featured Adele Blakebrough as a ‘social entrepreneur' in the Demos publication ‘The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur'.

Adele co-founded Community Action Network, (CAN) in 1998, when it began as a membership organisation whose aim was to identify and create a network of social entrepreneurs across the UK. CAN pioneered the use of the Internet to achieve this, and from the start set up partnerships with businesses to help it grow and expand. CAN has always believed that businesses, through partnering with social enterprises, can have a mutually-beneficial relationship and in 2005 created ‘Breakthrough' with private equity firm Permira to invest in the scaling up of social enterprises

CAN is now recognised as one of the UK's leading organisations for the development, promotion and support of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises. It has over 850 members across the UK, active in almost every field of social and economic change, from homelessness to schools, from recycling to healthcare.

In 2004 CAN re-structured and Adele was appointed Chief Executive and in 2006 CAN contracted with the Cabinet Office to provide and promote the voice of social enterprise. CAN Social Investment leverages world-class business skill and funds into  high potential social enterprises. It also runs its own award-winning social enterprise "CAN Mezzanine" which provides high-quality, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly office space. Its two sites in London house more than 60 social enterprises and charities and last year CAN Mezzanine (London Bridge) won a Charity Award for Research and Support.

Adele was a founder member of the Social Enterprise Coalition. She is also a trustee for Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and a founding partner and trustee of UnLtd.

Prior to the beginning of CAN in April 1998, Adele was director of the nationally renowned Kaleidoscope project in Kingston Upon Thames, a voluntary organisation working with 350 heroin dependants daily. She holds a Masters degree in Theology, is a Common Purpose graduate and a trained Baptist minister.

In 2006, Adele was awarded an MBE for services to social enterprise in the Queen's birthday honours list and in July 2007 received the prestigious Business in the Community (BITC) Awards in Excellence - the Marks and Spencer Sieff Award for her work in collaborating with the corporate sector for social benefit, which was presented to her by HRH The Prince of Wales and Al Gore.

"CAN's partnerships with Permira, and with Sony have enabled a raft of established social enterprises to grow and develop, and shining through these exciting and innovational partnerships is Adele Blakeborough's vision, passion, imagination and inspirational leadership."  (Sir David Sieff)