Our Working Areas
Social Entrepreneurship
Our Working Areas
Social Entrepreneurship
Center for Social Innovation, which is also a social enterprise, has been working for the development of social entrepreneurship in our country since its establishment, and it carries out projects and activities with different stakeholders with objectives such as increasing social awareness and knowledge about the concept, supporting cooperation and coordination efforts between institutions, increasing the number of social enterprises, contributing to the strengthening of existing social enterprises.
Social Entrepreneurship
Although Social Entrepreneurship is a concept that has examples all over the world in different forms for centuries, it is a field that does not have a single common language, terminology and definition but shows certain similar features.
Initiatives that were established mainly to solve a specific social, cultural or ecological problem, but that ensure their sustainability with an economic model instead of donations, which are the main income mechanism of non-governmental organizations.
Social enterprises, whose number is thought to be more than 11 million in the world today, have turned into an effective movement on a global scale, although they differ from country to country and region to region.
It is possible to define social entrepreneurship as the innovative and sustainable solution of social, cultural or ecological problems that have not been solved and/or recognized by the public, civil society or private sector, with an economic model.
Social enterprises are institutions that have a clear and basic social purpose, carry out a sustainable economic activity with the product or service they offer, and have organizational and managerial principles to use the profit or part of the profit they earn for the social problem they aim to solve. These social actors, who prioritize their stakeholders over their shareholders and have limitations on the distribution of their profits and assets, are also institutions that are based on individual rights, social and environmental benefits while carrying out their activities.
Social entrepreneurs lead to changes with their success in the areas they target such as health, education, environment, migration, disability, disasters, and in addition to these, they also cause different changes due to the innovative methods they use, their contributions to youth unemployment and employment, and their capacity to adapt participatory processes to business life. Bringing new solutions to the agenda of the society with the projects they put forward, these social actors do not only contribute to the solution of problems, but also change the way problems are perceived.
Social Entrepreneurship in Turkey – Constraints
Since social enterprises in Turkey are not defined as having a different legal personality than civil society, cooperatives or companies, it is possible to see examples of social enterprises in all these areas.
In fact, there are hybrid social enterprises that have a dual structure as both a non-governmental organization and an enterprise. This interim solution, which was produced to reach financial resources such as donations, grants and crowdfunding open to the access of civil society, stands out as a solution produced by the social entrepreneurship ecosystem for the lack of legal infrastructure.
Regardless of their preferred legal status, social entrepreneurs are basically social actors who aim to solve social problems with an economic model rather than a structure based on donations. The main difference between them and the civil society is the entrepreneurial-based resource development process they use while generating social benefit. Although social enterprises in our country are not defined as having a legal personality different from civil society, cooperatives or companies, many new social enterprises continue to produce enterprise-oriented solutions to social problems every year.
Social entrepreneurship is a new, interesting and developing concept in terms of conceptual framework in our country, but there is a definition problem and its Turkish equivalent is quite confusing. The concept needs clarification, especially its distinction with civil society and activism. As we mentioned above, there is no legal regulation for social entrepreneurs. There is also no specific Ministry and/or public institution that will be directly involved. It is difficult for social entrepreneurs to get funding because their statuses are not differentiated, and there are few institutions that provide funds by targeting social enterprises.
Institutional capacity for the field is weak, and the number of supporting institutions such as NGOs is quite limited. The number of institutions is also very limited. Likewise, the number of academicians and institutions that produce information conceptually is low. As a corollary, research data and good examples are scarce. There is an increase in awareness and interest in social entrepreneurship, especially among young people. However, it is not widespread due to low awareness, mainly limited to Istanbul and some metropolitan cities.
In addition to all these, there are also problems arising from social entrepreneurs themselves. The main problem is that social entrepreneurs are predominantly focused on social problems and that their interests, knowledge and skills on the entrepreneurial side are limited. While this situation negatively affects the success and longevity of the social enterprises established, it also results in their not being ready to receive the investment they need so much.
New Developments, New Opportunities…
Social enterprises and their founders, social entrepreneurs, are becoming more visible with increasing momentum in the solution of the social problems we face, achieving significant success in many countries of the world, disadvantaged segments, especially young people and women, turn to entrepreneurship-oriented solutions, hope for the future of other promising areas.
Strengthening social entrepreneurs in terms of knowledge and skills, supporting social enterprises financially and legally, integrating different public, civil society and private sector actors into the process, and becoming a natural part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem are also important in the agenda of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Center for Social Innovation, which is a social enterprise itself, has been working on strengthening the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, supporting social entrepreneurs, especially young people, increasing the number of actors and collaborations in the field, and carrying out projects and competitions since its establishment.
Key Activities and Possible Collaboration Areas
- To carry out projects and events for the development of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem
- To carry out projects and activities that will contribute to increasing awareness and knowledge of the concept of social entrepreneurship
- To organize social entrepreneurship competitions that will activate the innovation potential of the society, especially target groups such as youth, women and the disabled
- To carry out network activities to increase interaction and cooperation between individuals and institutions in the field of social entrepreneurship
