I love being able to consider the wicked problems in the world of health and the wider world. I have the privilege of listening to amazing people, ‘taking a thought for a walk’ and considering their perspectives to try and co-create new solutions.

I would like to share one of the first challenges of a healthcare entrepreneur – what corporate structure do you utilise for your new venture?

• Charity
• Community Interest Company
• Partnership or Sole Trader
• Limited company

This is particularly challenging when you are a passionate advocate of the NHS and believe that care should be free at the point of access. My experience as a shareholder of a limited company, is that you may be perceived as being a corporate machine redirecting public monies to the greedy 1%. I also realise that as a charity or community interest company, you may be limited in the investment you can attract and that the charitable purpose can be its own burden.

So how do you decide?

How can you consider your ethical and moral responsibilities?

In considering your options, you must be brave and set out your vision:

• How large could this organisation become? Technology and private equity might be needed to ensure a safe financial foundation.
• Who will be your partners? Potential collaborators may be corporate organisations or the voluntary and community sector.
• Our thought leaders including doctors and other professionals and wider communities may believe that their intellectual property should lead to a financial reward. If we wish to retain our talent, do we need equity with other industry standards.

It is not possible to be a healthcare entrepreneur if you do not have a fit for purpose vehicle as a legal entity to be able to sell services or products.

As a founder of a charity ‘The Maslow Foundation’, a Community Interest Company ‘Urban Nest Housing Solutions’ and a limited company ‘Nurture Health and Care Ltd’, I have had to consider these elements recently. Collaboration provides another layer of complexity which our structures are not able to facilitate with ease.

The Maslow Foundation has the vision of social inclusion using the lived experience of the community for whom it serves. They should identify their own services and providing a workforce of lived experience practitioners who collaborate with the widest partners to create the evidence base for best practice. As a charity status, this allows the sharing of assets and transfer of leadership to those whose diversity of experience will exceed my own.

Nurture Health and Care Ltd, has been founded to nurture our workforce, so they can nurture others. As a workforce partner, it will require the use of digital technology, working collaboratively with industry leaders with the possible need to scale rapidly.

 I believe that limited companies and corporate structures are essential, and our supply chains are testament to that. These organisations must then be held to account so that we meet public scrutiny and are distributive and regenerative by design.

We should expect our organisations to be embedded with the principles of equality and justice. Instead of aiming to accumulate only economic forms of capital, it should explicitly value social, human and natural capital. In healthcare, we need all our energy and passion to be harnessed through collaboration to create the best services for all and to drive a thriving economy.

We should be celebrating the success of our organisations, our workforce and those who use our services expanding best practice and I look forward the lived experience of entrepreneurial spirit setting up their own visions and participating in the journey of improvement which may address the social determinants for health as well as create culture change for the NHS.

I share the ‘donut model of economics’ from Kate Raworth and aim for organisations that seek to thrive not chase the dream of never ending growth for shareholders working collaboratively with all our partners, both statutory and voluntary, community and social enterprise.