Business
103
Capitalism for a cause M
More than three years after the term “social enterprise” rst entered the government’s vocabulary, the concept is far from widespread
BY LUCIANA LEITÃO
acau has just added one more social enterprise to its inven- tory. Two months ago the
Fuhong Society of Macau opened a laundry that is intended to be staffed by mentally handicapped people. The number of social enterprises
in the city is unclear but anecdotal evidence suggests there are very few. Macau Business sought details from the Social Welfare Bureau but had not received a response by the time this edi- tion went to press. Nurturing social enterprises was
part of chief executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah’s plan to counter the effects of the 2008 international nancial crisis. But they have yet to take off in a big way.
“A social enterprise is an organisa-
tion whose social mission ful ls a social need and operates with entrepreneurial strategies to be self-sustaining,” is how the Hong Kong General Chamber of So- cial Enterprises de nes the term. This means a social enterprise cannot be supported by government grants. Any pro t is usually either reinvested in the company or used for the bene t of the community. Mr Ho announced his plan in No-
vember 2008. He expected social en- terprises to give jobs to those laid off because of the international nancial crisis. At least one enterprise was estab- lished as a direct consequence of Mr
Ho’s announcement. A group of 30 peo- ple in the building industry set up Macau Social Enterprise Co. Ltd.
in August
2009 to provide employment referrals and vocational training for construction workers. As time passed and fear of a spike
in unemployment proved unfounded, the urge to promote the establishment of social enterprises to ght unemploy- ment faded. Instead, social enterprises became a way to create jobs for handi- capped people.
Clean break To this end, the Social Welfare Bureau began a special programme in 2010, of- fering associations a lump sum of up to
JANUARY 2012
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