SOCIAL enterprise is a vibrant and growing industry in the Philippines, a recent report by the British Council Philippines revealed.
The report titled “Reaching the Farthest First: The State of Social Enterprise in the Philippines” revealed there may be an estimated 164,473 social enterprises currently operating in the country whose top objectives are to generate employment, alleviate poverty, improve a local community and empower marginalized groups.
“The results suggest an emerging and optimistic social enterprise sector buoyed by new entrants, diversified leadership, rapid innovation and a strong drive to address social issues,” the report said. “The impact of the sector is significant—it created more than 17,000 jobs last year and generated approximately $21 million in value.” The report noted that of the 34-percent growth in jobs in the country last year, an estimated 5 percent came from social enterprises.
“The number of social enterprises established in the last decade alone is more than the last four decades prior,” the report said. “These ventures are attempting to ease the deepest and most persistent problems of the country, such as poverty and unemployment, by primarily helping communities and their own employees. In the past year, 56 percent of those employed in social enterprises are women and women leadership is also notable at 44 percent. Youth leadership, on the other hand, is seen in the newer social enterprises, suggesting new pathways for the many young Filipinos that traditionally become job seekers.”
The research shows that social enterprises are viable businesses that address gaps and issues within communities. The sector has ripe potential and support from a wide range of stakeholders, particularly from the government and private sector, is vital for its growth to continue. In underdeveloped communities, social enterprises can be the missing link to ensuring that even those hardest to reach are able to benefit from the gains of the Philippines’s globalizing and emerging economy.
Enrico Strampelli, head of development cooperation, delegation of the European Union in the Philippines, emphasized that an EU project is in line with the inclusive-growth-through-job-creation focus of the EU strategy in the country.
“Social enterprises, as both a job creation and poverty-alleviation tool reaching the most impoverished and marginalized sector of society, is a growing sector where its breadth and depth need to be understood more in order to create bigger impact,” Strampelli was quoted in a statement as saying.
“We hope that the results of the research will give the sector and its stakeholders an intimate understanding of general trends, strengths and challenges that can inform both policy and practice,” British Council Philippines Country Director Nick Thomas said. “The social enterprise movement in the Philippines is growing and evolving fast. Policy support is needed to further its growth.”
The British Council Philippines said its research presents initial quantitative information obtained from a survey of 206 participating social enterprises in the Philippines, to serve as a baseline for measuring the growth of social enterprise activity in the country and to help understand the current profile of activity.