A bit more than two years have passed since the Social Enterprise Law came into force on 1 April 2018, and. at present, 100 social enterprise are already operating.
Social enterprises operate in various sectors and fields, however they all share a single social entrepreneurship mission, in order to, via business tools, implement social objectives and improve our society at large. The most popular field of activity among social entrepreneurs is work integration, entailing 32% of enterprises. Work integration social enterprises employ social groups exposed to social exclusion risk. The most popular fields also include education - 24%, inclusive civil society, culture and diversity - 11% and sports, health promotion, medicine - 10%.
Social entrepreneurs operate throughout the territory of Latvia, however the majority of social enterprises - 58% are located in the territory of Riga, and 15% more are located in Pierīga region. 11% of social enterprises work in Kurzeme, 8% - in Zemgale, 6% - in Vidzeme and 2% - in Latgale. We can be proud of social enterprises in all regions of Latvia, however we must continue working on increasing the number of social enterprises in the regions of Latvia, where the number thereof is still comparatively small. The explanatory work should also continue with respect to both the society and local government, to emphasise the significance of operation of social enterprises in favour of society, as well as to encourage local governments to involve more actively in supporting these enterprises.
To receive financial aid for launching or developing the business, any social enterprises can still submit their business plan to the Development Financial Institution ALTUM for receipt of the grant of up to 200 thousand euro, which can serve as a significant milestone for the development of the enterprise. Up to now, ALTUM has approved 69 grant applications in the social entrepreneurship programme in the sum total of 4.2 million euro, supporting both the operators of social entrepreneurship before coming into force of the Social Enterprise Law and social enterprises that have been established over the last two years. To facilitate the preparation of quality business plans, the Ministry of Welfare provides the social entrepreneurs with the possibility to receive free-of-charge consultations for the development of a business plan regarding social entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, accounting and taxes.
The Ministry of Welfare grants the status of a social enterprise in accordance with the opinion of the Commission for Social Enterprises. The Commission for Social Enterprises consists of the representatives of the ministries and non-governmental organisations related to the social entrepreneurship
The project "Support for Social Entrepreneurship" is being implemented by 2022 with the support from the European Social Fund.
