Every year, on the third Thursday of November, the International Social Entrepreneurship Day is celebrated worldwide. Its main goal is to raise public awareness and understanding of social enterprises by sharing their success stories and supporting their good work. On this day – as well as on any other day – everyone is encouraged to support social enterprises by purchasing their products or using their services.
You can explore the range of services provided by Latvian social enterprises in the Social Enterprise Catalogue: www.socuznemumi.lv.
Since the Social Enterprise Law came into force six years ago, a total of 316 enterprises have been granted social enterprise status. Of these, 230 are currently active social enterprises, while 86 have ceased operations over time for various reasons.
Looking at the types of social impact they create:
62% of social enterprises work to improve the quality of life for groups affected by socially significant issues (such as education, health promotion, sports and recreation, and social services);
20% create social impact by employing representatives of target groups (work integration);
18% create long-term positive social impact by engaging in activities beneficial to society as a whole (such as environmental and animal protection, cultural diversity, and the development of civil society).
Social enterprises operate across the entire territory of Latvia. Of the 230 enterprises, the largest share – 107 enterprises (47%) – are located in Riga, while 59 enterprises (26%) operate in the Riga metropolitan area.
In other regions, 20 enterprises (9%) are located in Zemgale, 17 (7%) in Kurzeme, 17 (7%) in Vidzeme, and 10 (4%) in Latgale.
A month ago, the Social Entrepreneurship Start-up Idea Contest 2024, organized by the Ministry of Welfare in cooperation with Development Finance Institution ALTUM, concluded. The contest was held within the framework of the European Social Fund Plus project “Support for Social Entrepreneurship.”
The aim of the contest was to engage people with no prior experience in social entrepreneurship and to identify the best social business ideas.
From the submitted applications, the evaluation committee of the Ministry of Welfare and ALTUM selected 18 winners, who will have the opportunity to apply for an ALTUM grant to implement their business ideas before establishing a social enterprise and obtaining official social enterprise status.
We encourage all participants to continue developing their business ideas and gaining experience, as the Social Entrepreneurship Start-up Idea Contest is planned again for the second half of 2025.
The submitted ideas address a wide range of social challenges – promoting employment for groups at risk of social exclusion, providing social services, fostering an inclusive civil society, supporting education, and ensuring cultural diversity.
To mark Social Entrepreneurship Day, we invite you to explore the contest results on the Ministry of Welfare’s website:
www.lm.gov.lv/lv/socialas-uznemejdarbibas-uzsaceju-biznesa-ideju-konkurss-2024
