Social Entrepreneurs are those people who start a for-profit business or non-profit organisations in order to trigger improvements in society or environment.
A 15-member Commission on Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation visited Pakistan under the leadership of i-genius. i-genius is an international organisation and it promotes social entrepreneurship in partnership with PPAF (Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund) and Hashoo Foundation. Members of the commission belonged to UK, Italy, Australia and Pakistan.
Founder of i-genius Tommy Hutchinson was leading the commission. He stated that commission analysed opportunities and problems that are faced by social entrepreneurship in Pakistan. According to Tommy Hutchinson “a real sense of optimism” was being sensed by the commission during their meetings with social entrepreneurs and related stakeholders in Pakistan.
Hutchinson said
We chose Pakistan because the country is going through enormous change, as exemplified by the democratic transfer of power and rapid population growth
We think these changes present opportunities for social entrepreneurs to help society
He said that Pakistan has a diverse spectrum of emerging social enterprises that ranges from arts to agricultural innovation and these are the opportunities that could be utilized to promote social entrepreneurship in Pakistan.
Market access and financial constraints are the two basic problems faced by Social Entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Government’s lack of interest adds to the above said two problems.
According to Hutchinson
The Pakistani social entrepreneurs had a real desire for the government to engage
Filippo Addarri, an Italian member of commission expressed his views that the commission can help stimulate the debate nonetheless problem solving was still up to the Pakistani Social Entrepreneurs.
Jinnah Institute Director Raza Rumi said on this occasion that
The state has to remove these barriers completely. We need three million jobs every year and a 7-8% growth rate to create these jobs. All of this will not be possible unless the government improves the climate for economic activity
