Social entrepreneurship has rapidly arisen as an attractive option for changemakers who embrace the idea of entrepreneurship for societal rather than primarily private benefit. They have adopted alternative business models including B-corporations, cooperatives, companies controlled by foundations, and the Belgian Social Purpose Company. Based on this premise, Frank Bold organised an event on the 18th of March to gather people who are committed to deep change to discuss the subject.
On one side, supporters argued that non-profit organisations and “hybrid” businesses expand conventional business to link people with deeper sources of purpose, creativity and value. Detractors, on the other hand, are concerned that social entrepreneurs will never achieve transformational change because they are unable to scale.
We had the pleasure to count with us Cliff Prior, CEO of UnLtd, the UK Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs and Marleen Denef, Professor at KU Leuven in Brussels and partner at Curia law firm, as speakers.
Marleen's speech helped the participants understand the wide variety of legal statuses of enterprises, from the purely non-profit to the purely profit motivated, with all kinds of combinations to be found in between. She also stated that 'social enterprises are still perceived as soft businesses' and that lawyers are generally not familiar with them, a situation she described as a challenge to change. Nevertheless, she also emphasized the importance of making 'regular' business socially responsible as it was clear to her that the 'the legal form will not determine the ethical or unethical conduct of a company'.
Cliff Prior gave an overview of the current situation of social enterprises in the UK, where 100,000 are created every year. He started his presentation with a clear definition of social entrepreneurs and an explanation of the different stages they must pass through to become one. Among the participants there were several entrepreneurs who presented their projects and sought advice. According to Cliff, social enterprise is 'clearly the way to a sustainable future', underscoring that it is perfectly possible to be a profitable enterprise whilst being social. Ideally, social enterprise and responsible mainstream business will both thrive and complement each other.
The debate was moderated by Paige Morrow, Head of Brussels Operations, as part of the Purpose of the Corporation Project.
New reporting rules require certain large EU companies to include in their management report a non-financial statement. These companies need to begin gathering and auditing information in order to be prepared to publish the required information within good time after the end of the 2017 financial year. Frank Bold recently published a short guide on the Non Financial Reporting Directive that identifies who will be affected and explains how to comply with the new reporting requirements.
On September 28, Frank Bold will hold the Creating Sustainable Companies Summit gathering leading thinkers, businesses, policymakers and civil society in Brussels to chart the way to the next generation of corporations and future of corporate governance.
The Brussels office of the public interest law firm Frank Bold is currently recruiting a Legal Research Intern to start immediately full-time, for a period of two months, with the possibility of a four-month extension.
