There are several threats and challenges associated with the growth of social enterprises
. The present need is to identify remedies for promoting the development of more social enterprises across the globe.
What are social enterprises?
In order to raise income, social organizations employ entrepreneurial skills and business concepts that cause less destruction to the society and environment. As compared to other social organizations that reply on charity or donations for income, social enterprises use business skills to do so. One of the major factors that separate social enterprises from mainstream companies is their social objective. Private sector companies mostly reply on profit making for its stakeholders but social enterprises tend to strike a balance between the corporate and social world to fulfill the social objectives.
Challenges for social enterprises:
In today"s time, everyone is worried about their job and business. In this scenario, it may not be the right thing to encourage social enterprises as the global financial crunch is still showing its effects on economies worldwide. But if industry experts are to be believed, the present economic condition is best suited to make sure that social enterprises grow. This is the best time for such enterprises to take hold of the social, financial and environmental challenges out there. There are many business owners who feel that a company can either make profit or do "good" to the society. One can"t deny the fact that it is sometimes difficult to achieve efficiency and effectiveness at the same time, but it isn"t impossible. One of the main challenges faced by social enterprises is the lack of funds. Such enterprises always require a stable and strong financial backing so that their objectives are fulfilled. Banks are risk-averse and financial institutions don"t offer grants to social enterprises on easy terms. This is the reason why business experts believe that social entrepreneurs should operate as a commercial businessman and take all aspects into consideration so that irregular cash flow doesn"t affect the quality and continuity of their services. Lack of finance will also be solved with the emergence of more social entrepreneurship funds.