Tim tells us more about his life, his loves and which member of royalty he thinks would make a good social entrepreneur

Tim gives a presentation at Eden

What did you want to be when you grew up?

A famous marine biologist. I was always fascinated by pond dipping and rock pooling and fishing, although I never liked to eat them. Unfortunately, I never had the basic scientific talent for the job although on my 40th birthday I did consider giving everything up and having another crack.

The ocean is fantastically important to us, but for some reason it doesn't get the emotional buy-in from environmentalists that the rain forests and orangutans do.

Why have you become an ambassador?

Because I believe social enterprise is going to be a hugely significant development that needs to be properly championed and not submerged under a blanket of touchy-feely jargon and inaction.

Who do you most want to inspire?

Driven people with values, who want to use the instincts that might otherwise have made them hugely successful in other spheres, to go into social enterprise. I want them to make sure that social enterprise isn’t populated by a few celebrity heroes and that it also has talent behind the scenes.

I want social enterprise to be a sophisticated amalgam of commercial opportunity with a structure that will make it adaptable to be applicable to anything from the multinational to a corner shop.

What do you think of the way companies work in the UK?

In the UK we always hear of the same companies like the John Lewis Partnership in a touchy feely way, but when you travel in Scandinavia and Northern Europe and even America, you come across loads of social enterprises or indeed corporates that have radically changed the way they do business.

For example Pixar, Apple, Microsoft, Electronic Arts in the straight commercial sector, the Delancey Street Project and the Manchester School Project in Pittsburgh in the not-for-profits, and the Griffin Hospital near Boston.

Tim takes a buggy around the Eden site

Did you always have a social outlook?

Yes, I’m Dutch by birth, what do you expect? Having lived and travelled in some of the less developed parts of the world and also studied and worked in areas of Britain where times are hard, added to a four month period on the dole in 1978/79, I have an acute sense that good fortune and wealth can be taken from you in the blink of an eye.

I understand the crushing feeling of being, in my case, a man unable to pay his way and all that goes with those feelings in terms of self-esteem. One of the fundamentals to which I hold is that anybody who is fortunately born (by which I mean in good health) is capable of contributing and doing remarkable things.

Despite having seen many people underachieve through their own self destruct mechanisms, I believe there is nothing more exhilarating than watching people grow into the people they dreamt they could have been when they were young. The deep satisfaction of seeing this is perhaps the most wonderful feeling outside of the joy of family and friends that I can have.

What would be your best piece of advice to a future social entrepreneur?

It’s not bad manners to make money for yourself if those around you and those you seek to help have had their expectations exceeded beyond their imagining. Don’t be guilty, don’t be a hippy and don’t talk in the measured tones of a social worker.

What subjects did you like as a kid?

History, English, economics and geography. I was a bit rebellious.

How do you relax?

Play the piano or get into long rambling arguments with my friends.

Who in the public eye do you think would make a good social entrepreneur?

HM The Queen. Were Her Majesty to put some of her wealth to the creation of innovative opportunities for people to create social wealth and cohesion, she would make a statement about the values of our country. This, I believe, would augment her historic role with a vision of a future in which the wellbeing of all her subjects is publicly acknowledged and recognised.

It is only fair to say that the Prince’s Trust has made significant steps in pioneering engagement and social enterprise and it is easy to overlook this because it feels as if it has been with us for such a long time.