Stephen is a renowned commentator on the social economy, with his blog www.slowsocial.me read by literally tens of people. For the past decade he has also helped numerous organisations improve their practice based on evidence and learning, and holds a Masters in Social Research from the University of Leicester. He currently oversees the delivery of monitoring, evaluation and research activity at UnLtd – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs. UnLtd is the leading provider of support to social entrepreneurs in the UK, and offers the largest such network in the world. Stephen has written extensively on the social economy and social entrepreneurship, drawing on disciplines as wide ranging as feminism, network theory and Marxism. Stephen’s research has recently uncovered a pattern in the types of social entrepreneurs stepping forward to take their ventures to scale – they are most likely to be men. This is despite substantially better representation for women amongst social enterprises than traditional businesses, and raises an important question about whether the sector truly represents a new type of business, or ‘business as usual’.