The Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation has updated data on the activities of social entrepreneurs in the economy as a whole and in the regional context. As of January 2024 in Almost 11 thousand social enterprises are registered in Russia. Of these, 7.8 thousand are individual entrepreneurs, 3.2 thousand act as legal entities.
"The total annual revenue of social entrepreneurs exceeded 102 billion rubles. We have said more than once that social business has a female face — current data confirm this fact: more than 70% of social entrepreneurs are women. The largest number of enterprises are in the fields of education (30%), health and social services (23%), culture, sports and leisure (17%), manufacturing (8%)," the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation said Tatyana Ilyushnikova.
Of the total annual revenue, 17.9 billion is accounted for by sole proprietors, 84.6 billion by legal entities.
Today, more than 82 thousand employees work in the social business. Young people are also appearing among social entrepreneurs: 147 sole proprietors under the age of 25 are developing their business.
The Our Future Foundation notes that there are several trends in the field of social entrepreneurship in 2024.
"For example, we see a trend towards the introduction of new technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, which is already actively used in biomedicine, IT and social advertising. Social projects in the field of rehabilitation and prosthetics will receive more and more development in the near future. Another trend is the development of additional education, especially distance education. The development of domestic tourism seems promising. More and more businessmen will begin to develop marketplaces as the main platform for the sale of their goods. In addition, new categories may appear in the structure of social business due to the development of creative clusters, and in the curricula of universities — professional training programs for specialists in the field of social entrepreneurship," said the director of the Our Future Foundation Natalia Zvereva.
The leading regions in terms of the number of enterprises: the Republic of Bashkortostan (617 companies), Nizhny Novgorod Region (463), Leningrad Region (451), Primorsky Krai (390), Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra (371), Moscow (360), St. Petersburg (273), Volgograd Region (247), Samara region (242), Sverdlovsk region (220).
In Russia, there is also a rating of the subjects of the Russian Federation based on the results of the implementation of support for socially oriented non-profit organizations (SONKO) and social entrepreneurship. By the end of 2022, the leaders included the Republic of Bashkortostan, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Yaroslavl and Tyumen region, Primorsky and Krasnoyarsk territories. "It is important to note that social business is resistant to crises: about 80% of companies have been developing their business for more than three years. High survival has become possible, among other things, thanks to support tools — these are preferential loans, grants, property support, tax preferences," she noted Tatyana Ilyushnikova.
In Russia, there are a number of support measures for social enterprises within the framework of the national project "Small and Medium-sized Enterprises". It was initiated by the President of Russia, the implementation of the national project is supervised by the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Andrey Belousov. A social business can receive a grant of up to 500 thousand rubles (up to 1 million rubles for the Arctic zone) for business development. Such entrepreneurs can also receive microloans at preferential rates from regional microfinance organizations.
A social entrepreneur from Primorsky Krai Alexander Sorokin is developing a children's ski school, having received the status of a social entrepreneur in 2021. "We are not just a ski school, we are creating a platform for high-quality family holidays in the winter season. The status helped me get a grant, which I invested in the construction of the school. Also, thanks to credit programs for social entrepreneurs, I received several loans at preferential rates. In addition, I took training courses at the My Business center, which allowed me to conduct my business effectively," he said.
In the regions, there are tax incentives for entrepreneurs working on a simplified taxation system. As part of the property support, companies can rent office and industrial premises on a preferential or gratuitous basis, as well as places in coworking spaces in the My Business centers.
"In 2016, I founded the center for social services "Sincere People" in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. We provide comprehensive care for the elderly with disabilities, social and labor rehabilitation of young people with disabilities, and support for the participants of the SVO. Since 2020, our organization annually confirms the status of a social enterprise. Thanks to this, we received grant support for the development of our project, we were provided with premises for free use, and we also regularly receive consulting support from specialists of the My Business center," the head of the center said Marina Akhmetgalieva.
In addition, there are about 50 social innovation centers in the regions, which work as a "single window" for social enterprises. Here companies can receive consulting and educational support, assistance in launching projects.
Every year, a competition "My Good Business" is held for social entrepreneurs, organized by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia. The operator is the State University of Management.
"The competition has been held for the ninth year and allows us to identify the best practices of social entrepreneurship. Thanks to the project, we can assess the qualitative indicators of the growth of social entrepreneurship. This year we have accepted more than 3 thousand applications, and about 900 projects from all over the country have entered the regional stage. Now the applications are being evaluated by an expert jury, and in the summer we will find out the names of the finalists of the competition," said the rector of the State University of Management Vladimir Stroev.
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