On 19-20 April, a two-day meeting of the Working Group on Small and Medium Enterprises was held within the framework of the EU-funded “Constructive Commitment Dialogue” project.
On the second day of the meeting, Mr. Hakob Avagyan, Deputy Chairman of the SME Cooperation Association, mentioned that the subject of the discussion will be about the concept of social entrepreneurship and its fate. “Currently, on our initiatives, and with the support of international organisations, we constantly engage in the activities of social entrepreneurship in our country as a new emerging branch, which has many positive aspects, regional development, securing jobs that are sometimes neglected, etc.” He said and added that there have been discussions about it over the years, but so far no legal basis has been received.
Mr. Gemafin Gasparyan Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs said that social entrepreneurship not only brings business benefits, but also ensures public solidarity. “This helps people who are not competitive at the moment are also involved in the labour market and not just as a working object, but rather themselves undertake their activity and become entrepreneurs,” the Deputy Minister said.
Mr. Gevorg Poghosyan, Head of the EBRD Business Assistance Office, presented the concept of social entrepreneurship development. “There is a social entrepreneurship in Armenia, there is an association, there are enterprises and experts, but there is no system and recognition by state. I think this is a very important tool for the state to make the government more efficient both in social issues and economic development,” Gevorg Poghosyan said.
Ms Satik Badedyan, the President of the Association of Social Enterprises of Armenia, noted that the concept was developed about a year and a half ago. There, great attention was paid to the international experience, but it should be noted that there is already an established model in Armenia, which can be an example for development.
Mr. Gevorg Mamikonyan, representative of SME Development of the RA Ministry of Economic Development and Investments, presented the Social Entrepreneurship Development section of the Draft SME Development Strategy 2019-20.
Mr. Gagik Vardanyan, the Secretary of the Armenian Business Coalition spoke about the possible support from the state to social entrepreneurship, which would have a positive shift in the economy.
Mr. Avag Avanesyan, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Investments noted that social entrepreneurship is a new phenomenon for Armenia. According to him, if it is to be fixed in the SME strategy, perhaps currently it would have a general look.
At the end of the meeting, an agreement was reached to officially circulate the above-mentioned concept to the interested agencies and approve the guidelines for the development of social entrepreneurship in the Republic of Armenia.
And in the SME Development Strategy, which currently is at the stage of development at the RA Ministery of Economic Development and Investments, to address the SE as a new, developing type of entrepreneurship.
