Introduction

Social Innovation Investment Group decided to send Sukhi Turner, (former Mayor of Dunedin City and Advisory Trustee to the Group), Emeline Afeaki-Mafile'o (New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellow) and Philip Patson (New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellow) to attend the Skoll World Forum 2008.

The theme of the conference was Culture, Context and Social Change. The questions that needed addressing were:

• What are the cultural and contextual barriers that social entrepreneurs need to overcome to create sustainable change in the area where they work?
• To what extent does culture accelerate or inhibit change, innovation and scale?
• How can social entrepreneurs best evaluate the contexts in which they operate?
• At the most practical levels., what mindsets and tools are needed for social entrepreneurs to work successfully across different cultures and contexts?

This was to be an opportunity for networking, testing new ideas and a chance to connect to a broader community of social entrepreneurs from all over the globe

Sukhi Turner, Emeline Afeaki Mafile'o and Philip Patston before leaving for Oxford