Chris Brown, Director of the British Council, made the statement at a February 20 seminar in Hanoi focused on creating a sustainable development environment for social business.
He affirmed social business is one of the British Council’s top priorities in its social development programme in Vietnam.
Nguyen Dinh Cung, acting director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), noted social business is one of sustainable economic models as it plays an important role in supporting the State in providing public services and dealing with social issues.
“Social businesses can be financially self-sustainable without the capitalistic pursuit of profits and alternatively re-invest the profits in themselves with the aim of addressing social problems,” he said. “Thus, the State has a vested interest in ensuring policies are devised to further this economic model.”
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More than 200 social businesses are currently operating in 40 provinces and cities across Vietnam. Yet they have met numerous difficulties, including their unclear legal status and limited access to finance and training.
Marie Magimay, Director of Finance and Corporate Resources, Social Enterprise UK, said the UK has an extensive and successful history dealing with social business issues in economic sectors across the board including health and social care, renewable energy, food, housing, retail and transport.
By 2013, the UK had 70,000 social businesses, accounting for 5% of the total number of businesses, contributing GBP24 billion to the national budget and generating 1 million jobs, she said.
At the seminar, UK experts talked about opportunities for cooperation between the two nations and joint activities to create a sustainable environment for social business and their impact on the public, such as incentives and legal framework for social business.