The session ‘Social Entrepreneurship: Driving Force Behind Youth Projects’ was held on 14 February as part of Youth Enterprise Day at the Russian Investment Forum. The participants attempted to define the role of social entrepreneurship in the Russian economy and the level of government support in this sphere, while also outlining problems faced by the socially orientated business.    

Twenty-two social sphere innovation centres are operating in Russia within the framework of the Programme for Support of Small and Medium-Sized Entrepreneurship, with another nine to be created in 2018, said Maksim Parshin, Director of the Department for Small and Medium-sized Business and Competition at the Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

“The social sphere innovation centres are part of the basic infrastructure for supporting small and medium-sized entrepreneurship, from which a service model is evolving. The main idea of the service model for support is that an entrepreneur in any region, regardless of where he starts up and pursues his business, is entitled to the basic set of services needed to start and develop a business,” Maksim Parshin explained, adding that the number of social sphere innovation centres in the country is still insufficient.

Mr. Parshin elaborated on a new bill for formalizing the concept of ‘social entrepreneurship’ using two criteria. “The first one is the types of activity, and the second – employment, meaning an opportunity for employment of certain groups of the population who are less competitive on the labour market owing to their special features,” he said. Mr Parshin stressed that the bill was being considered by the Government and might be passed by the State Duma as soon as the spring session.  

Dmitry Gerasimov, Acting Director of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs, commented on the efforts to support social projects.  He said one-fifth of all projects involved in the programme ‘You are an Entrepreneur’ were socially orientated. He emphasized that social projects often lacked publicity and that various contests could become a fine tool for developing this trend.   

The discussion was continued by representatives of funds for supporting social entrepreneurship (Towards Change Foundation, the fund for regional social programmes ‘Our Future’, and the Council of the All-Russian Union of Public Associations ‘Youth Socio-Economic Initiatives’).  They spoke about the activities of their organizations and development of social entrepreneurship in Russia.

The experts pointed to the significant increase in the number of social projects in Russia. At the same time, they lamented that businessmen often lacked information about contests and grants, and stressed the need for a one-stop-shop for informing those interested. Examples of successful projects could inspire more young entrepreneurs to start their own social business.