Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) came up with the creative idea of allowing the premier’s residence, which has long been vacant, to be used by social enterprises to pursue their entrepreneurial goals and create Taiwan’s first cluster of such enterprises. This is a great idea.
Social enterprises have long been popular in Europe, and in recent years, the US federal government has enacted laws to support the establishment of low-profit limited liability companies and encouraged the founding of socially beneficial companies.
Social enterprises are even more vigorous in Asia; Hong Kong is a stronghold for them. The South Korean government strongly supports prospective new industries to initiate an economic revival. Although there is no open official support from the Chinese government yet, Chinese civil society has seen the emergence of socially oriented enterprises aimed at addressing social problems, protecting the environment, caring for the disadvantaged and promoting social justice.
Social enterprises differ from non-profit organizations in that the latter have a socially beneficial mission and ideals, but lack the corporate managerial capabilities required for survival, making them dependent on outside help — such as government subsidies and donations from society.
What distinguishes social enterprises from regular enterprises is that their management must adhere to the principle that profits are distributed in a limited way: Part of the profit must be used for social benefit and cannot be given to shareholders for personal gain. From this perspective, social entrepreneurs are not only kindhearted philanthropists, but also businesspeople who know how to do business; they provide a new business model, in which those involved not only have business skills, but also virtue.
Recently, Taiwanese have seen a slew ofcorrupt businesses. The development of new business models is precisely what society needs now. It can only be hoped that Taiwan will offer fertile ground for developing entrepreneurs in this new business model. After all, the area of the premier’s residence is only 0.033 hectares. Many social enterprises will want to move in. If it becomes an office for incubating social enterprises, and demand outstrips supply, the efficacy of the premier’s residence will be very limited.
Hence, it would be best used as a place to nurture entrepreneurs in this new business model, a platform on which social enterprises can realize their goals and a public space where social enterprise partners can weave their dreams, discuss ideas, communicate different opinions, demonstrate results, share and exchange thoughts, sell creative products, carry out business matching and fundraising and recruit talent.
There have been reports that some of the space is to be used by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Small and Medium Enterprise Administration to set up consulting services for social enterprises. That would be wrong. There are so many channels to provide government consultation, such as setting up a special telephone-based or online consulting service. Only by making it a space for civic social activities can the Cabinet show its respect for civic society.
In addition, since the premier’s residence is being pegged for use as a space for social enterprises to exchange ideas, Mao should do his best to let social enterprises use it free of charge (except for utility bills).
Developing social enterprises is difficult because there are too many necessary complementary conditions to be met. Having a space is only a first small step. How to connect the creative products of social enterprises with capital and consumer markets should be the main future task.
Ted Chiou is a professor at Yuan Ze University.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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