There has been many definition of a social enterprise. A social enterprise is still a relatively new in Singapore. It is, however, much more established in other countries such as the United Kingdom (UK).
In Singapore, there are a few factors that contributes to being known as a social enterprise. The factors are:
1. Create job opportunity for their beneficiaries.
2. Plow back the the profits to helping the beneficiaries.
3. Giving subsidies to the beneficiaries
4. Meeting a certain social need, such a community bonding
At the end of the day, as long as they follow any of these model, regardless of the amount of impact they may be making. Thus, any business can easily call themselves a social enterprise, as long as they make even a slight impact on society. Business owner are free to keep the profits that they earn too. Plus, they can get grants from the government.
However, unlike the UK, all the profit have to be plow back to the beneficiaries. Business owner will not be entitled to any profit that the business earn. Plus, should there be shareholders, they will not receive the dividends.
Some say that the UK is adopting the right model and that Singapore has a very vague definition of a social enterprise. Some argue that Singapore should follow the UK examples, some don't.
Looking at one side of the coin, adopting such a method may and will deter many aspiring social entrepreneur from setting up their social enterprise., which could be a possible reason why Singapore does not want to adopt the UK method. However, it can lead to the abuse of the name social enterprise and there may be more "bogus" social enterprise.
What's my take on this? Hopefully, throughout my last semester in Business and Social Enterprise, I'll be able to get an answer.
Article: What makes a social enterprise? - The Straits Times (Published February 16, 2013)
