'An Interview With...' podcast series speaks to Jonathan Lewis

‘An Interview with... Jonathan Lewis’:  The Chief Executive of The Social Investment Business says CSOs can deliver great services if they receive the right support and picks wrestling over boxing.

Monday 10 January 2011

The Social Investment Business Chief Executive Jonathan Lewis tries his hand at 'An Interview With…' in the latest of our monthly podcast series, revealing his ambitions for the organisation to bring more money into the sector in 2011 and help charities, community groups and social enterprises to become more involved in public service delivery.

Instead of composing a New Year’s message, Lewis faced some tough (and some more light-hearted) questions from The Social Investment Business interviewing team. The former Director of Digital Channels at ITV and Head of Channel Strategy at MTV Europe said that there is a very strong evidence base that civil society organisations can deliver great services if they are given the appropriate support. Furthermore, he welcomed the positive political support for the sector, but noted that turning all of these positive ideas into a lot more money for the sector and a lot more activity by the sector will be a challenge.

 ‘An Interview With...Jonathan Lewis’ also touches on how his commercial past has been ‘immensely useful’ in understanding the barriers that civil society organisations face. During the quick fire quiz he confirmed his preference for wrestling (a hobby of his) over boxing.

‘An Interview With...’ is a monthly podcast series from The Social Investment Business featuring short interviews with leading figures in social enterprise and civil society.

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1.  Listen to ‘An Interview With... Jonathan Lewis' and read the full transcript here: http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/aninterviewwith/

2.  Check out the resources section on The Social Investment Business website: http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/resources/

3.  For further information or interviews, please contact The Social Investment Business press office:

Liz Banks - 0207 842 7726/ 07809 504072  liz.banks@socialinvestmentbusiness.org

Nicola Jones - 0207 842 7755 nicola.jones@socialinvestmentbusiness.org

4. The Social Investment Business, the fastest growing social investor in the UK, exists to help social enterprises, charities and community organisations do more of what they do best – supporting people and communities most in need. We help organisations prosper by providing innovative financial solutions, business support and long term strategic thinking.

www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org @TheSocialInvest

5. The Social Investment Business manages Government funds on behalf of the Office for Civil Society, the Department of Health and the Department for Communities and Local Government, with over 1,000 active investments. These range from £3,600 to help a small organisation bid successfully for a public sector contract, to £6.7million to help a large national charity establish and develop innovative new services for children and young people.