Andy Ng |
Hong Kong General Chamber of Social Enterprises (HKGCSE) aims to “uniting social enterprises to explore business opportunities and nurturing new corporate culture”. Since its founding 11 years ago, HKGCSE has been earnestly promoting social enterprise movement. In 2014, we inaugurated the Social Enterprise Endorsement (SEE) Mark, which serves as an independent third-party mechanism to certify bona-fide social enterprises. Through the accreditation process, SEE Mark Scheme enhances good governance and strengthens operational capability of social enterprises, fosters wider acceptance by the general public in order to create a robust ecology and facilitate sustainable development of social enterprises. Time flies. SEE Mark enters its seventh year now. Over the past years, the development of social enterprises has been blossoming. Whereas only around 20 social enterprise projects were certified in the first round of SEE Mark’s accreditation, up till now, there are 92 certified social enterprise projects with a total of 183 outlets. Business natures of social enterprises accredited by our SEE Mark are of great variety, including goods and services of daily necessities, food, housing, as well as office and business service support. We will continue to operate SEE Mark, the only social enterprise accreditation system in Hong Kong which has gradually gained recognition and reputation locally and internationally. SEE Mark offers an identification mechanism for consumers, the SE sector ourself, as well as for the government, which has been becoming an important component for promoting the development of social enterprises in Hong Kong. With a better understanding of social enterprises, the government and other social and charity organisations have offered plentiful resources for the development of social enterprises. Also, the general public is more aware of the idea of “ethical consumption” and “social procurement”. They therefore are more willing to spend extra time and money to buy from social enterprises. Besides, the government and public organisations have been gradually showing more trust towards SEE Mark being an authentic label of a bona fide social enterprise. For instances, SEE Mark has become one of the eligibility criteria of the applications for “Anti-epidemic Fund” of the government. This showcases that SEE Mark is moving towards its goal step by step. This year sees a very difficult year for Hong Kong, probably for the rest of the whole world as well. COVID-19 has been creating huge adverse impact to all industries, which is much severe than that of SARS in 2003. Many social enterprises are struggling for their survival during this trying moment while the economy is undergoing a steep downturn. Many of them are committed to brave this storm to continue operation to keep pursuing their social missions. In this really challenging moment, HKGCSE will keep collaborating closely with the social enterprises, government departments, business sector and other stakeholders to further boost up the positive impact of SEE Mark, and to build up the capacity of social enterprises to address needs of the general public through the provision of quality goods and services. |
