Jean-Philippe Brianchon is an I.T professional with more that 25 years of experience in communication, travel, education and financial services. From analyst developer to technical leader, he has worked across France, Canada and Australia. In his spare time, Jean-Philippe has always tried to use his skills to develop applications which may be useful to the community. His most recent endeavour, SwapAnHour, uses time as a currency to unlock the potential of people’s skills and goods and foster the spirit of community. We sat down with Jean-Philippe to find out more.

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What is your social enterprise elevator pitch?

Swap an hour (SwapAnHour) is a community of swappers with different skills and goods to exchange.

You offer your skills to help a swapper and in return get free help for that time.

You lend your goods to a swapper and in return borrow some goods for free.

SwapAnHour doesn’t discriminate by market value of skills or goods, an hour of gardening work is worth an hour of IT support. Lending a mower is worth lending a surfboard.

SwapAnHour’s currency is time and fostering the spirit of community. No money is exchanged.

What are your biggest personal and/or professional challenges as a social entrepreneur in Australia?

An efficient business model has to be defined for social enterprises. The number of social organisations seeking finance for working capital is a challenge.

What’s the best piece of advice you have received so far since starting your own social enterprise?

Having a technical background I am naturally more focused on developing the App. The best peace of advice I have received recently is to spend the same time in promoting the App as developing it.

If you were to start over, is there anything you would do differently?

I would probably find partners with the same passion for the project but with different backgrounds and skills. I would also confront ideas in the early stages of the development.

Where do you see the future of social enterprise in Australia?

Most social enterprise are small enterprises, and most have a local/regional focus, but Australia is certainly a country ready to go further. Australian’s are socially ready and as a result the diversity of the social enterprises will expand in the future.

What appeals most to you about Social Change Central?

Social Change Central centralises different in actors in the social enterprise sphere all in one spot. Being introduced to a network of the social entrepreneurs will certainly contribute to make SwapAnHour more visible and help to reach our full potential.

The Social Change Central changemaker community is growing at a fast rate. How can our members learn more about you and help support your organisation (e.g. are you looking for funding, PR, marketing support, volunteers, interns)?

I am an I.T professional with more that 25 years of experience in different domains from communication, travel, education to financial services. I worked on different position from analyst developer to technical leader. In my spare time I have always tried to use my skills to develop mobile App which may be useful to the community. This is why I have recently developed SwapAnhour. I hope the community will be benefit from the App where time is the currency not the money. An hour for an hour.

And finally, what would you do if you found a lottery ticket that ended up winning $10 million?

If I find the ticket it means that the money doesn’t belong to me. I would probably do my best to find the owner of the ticket.

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