Baku hosts seminar on development of social entrepreneurship

A seminar is being held in Baku today to present recommendations for the development of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Azerbaijan and discuss ways to implement them, Report informs.

The seminar "Social Enterprise Policy Azerbaijan: ecosystem recommendations for supporting social enterprises in Azerbaijan" was organized with the support of the EU and UNDP.

It is attended by international social entrepreneurship expert Lana Lovasic, UNDP Deputy Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Charu Bist, government representatives, individual experts and investors, social entrepreneurs.

"At this stage, when the development of social entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan is at an early stage, many companies face some problems. The government of Azerbaijan plays a leading role in the development of such entrepreneurship, as well as in supporting social protection. We are happy to see this trend," Charu Bist said

Lana Lovasic, representing the project on the development of social entrepreneurship during the seminar, said that despite being at the initial stage, the indicators of the development of this type of entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan are almost equal to those of Turkiye.

According to her, social entrepreneurship is particularly important in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"With sufficient funding, the country can achieve a lot in this area. I am glad that in the socio-economic strategy of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026 there are also issues of developing the social entrepreneurship ecosystem," she said.

"Since April 2022, we have already begun to consider the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country. A report was prepared on the state of this ecosystem and recommendations were made for its development," Lovasic added.