How Hong Kong boosted social entrepreneurship with two key measures by Chi-Hing Kee
Hong Kong is the most competitive region among 61 countries in the 2016 World Competitiveness Yearbook by the International Institute for Management Development, especially in the business efficiency category. This pursuit of efficiency in Hong Kong also applies to its social enterprise sector which the government started to support in 2001. Its core strategy is to grant start-up funding to social enterprises based on the feasibility of their business plans. , which helps boost social entrepreneurs’ ability to become competitive in the long term rather than rely on wage subsidies or government procurement policies. This is one of the two critical decisions by the government that have had a major impact on the success of Hong Kong’s social enterprise sector. The other decision is to calculate and report the social impacts created. All social enterprises have to provide quality products and services in order to win business and keep customers. Hence during an application for startup funding, the government will check the business feasibility and potential social impacts.
