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Recent Developments of Social Enterprises in Taiwan. Michael T S Lee Dean, College of Management Fu Jen Catholic University November 2010. Table of Contents. Taiwanese People Possess the Characteristics to be Entrepreneurs The Chinese Culture Nurtures the Environments of Fostering NPOs
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Recent Developments of Social Enterprises in Taiwan Michael T S Lee Dean, College of Management Fu Jen Catholic University November 2010
Table of Contents • Taiwanese People Possess the Characteristics to be Entrepreneurs • The Chinese Culture Nurtures the Environments of Fostering NPOs • The Current Status of Social Enterprises in Taiwan • Government’s Role in Helping NPOs • Flow’s Impact to the Ecosystem • Several initiatives at Fu Jen • Future Development of SEs in Taiwan?
Taiwanese People Possess the Characteristics to be Entrepreneurs • Kids start to do business when they are very young • Mainly try to get more pocket money for personal expenses • People don’t like to work for others, instead they like to have their own business • Small to median, not big enterprises (SMEs) are major motivators for the economic developments for Taiwan for the past few decades
The Chinese Culture Nurtures the Environments of Fostering NPOs • The Chinese tradition tends to help those who need help • Lots of rich people like to set up private foundations for various reasons • The impact of corporate social responsibility • Churches and temples play important roles in nurturing NPOs in Taiwan after the economic conditions are getting better during the past few decades
Current Status of Social Enterprises in Taiwan • NPOs are having a hard time due to the economic recessions and competition among themselves • NPOs are struggling to become social enterprises • The government can provide limited support in some areas • Business foundations and/or individuals try to help, but not in the proper ways • Social venture capital cannot find right targets due to lack of proper platform to reach potential NPOs
Cont. • Academics figure out the importance of social enterprises, but mainly limited to the stage of understanding the phenomena and conducting research regarding social enterprises • Flow tries to fund potential NPOs (social enterprises) but no significant progress has been made • Fu Jen Catholic University got great inspirations from GSBI at Santa Clara University and is trying to duplicate the program in Taiwan
Government’s Role in Helping NPOs • One department (Department of Social Affairs) focuses on supporting NPOS in obtaining government support • Provide consulting and classes for NPOs • Government owned banks provide low-interest lawns to NPOs • Lack of continuous support and organized future development plans
Flow’s Impact to the Ecosystem • Flow (an institution trying play the role of Skull in the US), founded by Steve Chang, the owner of Trend Micro (an anti-virus public company in Japan and the US), has devoted lots of resources in promoting social entrepreneurship in Taiwan • Lots of efforts have been made in screening potential NPOs (social enterprises) • However, until now, none of the applicants have been funded • Refocus on nurturing existing SEs recently
Several initiatives at Fu Jen • Have four social enterprises housed in our incubation center (we expect more in the near future). The College provides consulting and related supports to these SEs and helps them increase their competitiveness and/or scale up. • Lots of social enterprises become students’ graduation project targets and these SEs get great support from the students and the project advisor (either a faculty member from our College or a volunteer mentor) in better managing their business. • Provide consulting support and training courses/workshops for SEs • Several cases regarding SEs have been developed and will be used in our entrepreneurship and/or strategic management courses.
Cont. A US$300,000, 3-year joint research project about various SE topics has been funded by the University. The project has more than ten faculty members involved and several good journal papers have been published. The University has promised to continue support research in SE and Fu Jen should have more research impact in SE with continuing devotions in SE related research. Help found the Taiwan Social Enterprise Innovation and Entrepreneurship Society (TSEIES) to provide platform for social entrepreneurs to interact and exchange ideas. Host the Annual Social Entrepreneurship Case Competition in Taiwan and provide financial and consulting supports for those cases who would like to turn their ideas into real businesses.
Cont. Host the annual Social Enterprise Forum to provide platform for related parties to exchange ideas with one another. Encourage students to conduct service learning for SEs in Taiwan and several Southeast Asia countries. A cloud computing service center in providing software (like ERP or accounting service) and technical support for SEs will be launched to better serve the SE society in Taiwan. Join Sanata Dharma University in providing support for social enterprises in Indonesia (similar support will also be provided in India and Mainland China starting next summer) Try to launch an EMBA program in Social Entrepreneurship.
What can We Do in the Future? • Very promising as Taiwanese are born entrepreneurs • The entire eco-system (government, social venture capital, SE foundations, SEs, academic communities) needs to work together in a more efficient way • There are no investment targets for social venture capital now, the short term focus should be help the SEs to scale up and in good shape • Mainland China should be the land of opportunities of SEs in Taiwan • Together we can make things different!
