This month, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Social Enterprises released a survey underlining the plight of the city’s social enterprises as they struggle with the coronavirus epidemic.
The study, conducted in late February, revealed that the average turnover of most of the 214 companies surveyed more than halved in January and February compared with the same period last year. Nearly 20 per cent of those surveyed had no revenue at all. Education and training enterprises were the worst affected.
The chamber is calling on the government to give certified social enterprises here, numbering about 500, a handout of HK$80,000 each to help mitigate the impact from the fall in revenues brought on by the coronavirus crisis. But what are social enterprises and why do they matter?
In the report, “Business for Good: Maximising the Value of Social Enterprises in Asia”, the Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society answers these questions by conducting more than 700 surveys and interviews of founders, impact investors, enablers and policymakers.
The study is the largest data-driven analysis of early-stage social enterprises and their ecosystems in Asia. It covers six economies – Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan and Thailand – with 1.2 million social enterprises between them, and spotlights China and India, which adds an estimated 3.5 million to the total… (Please visit SCMP for more)