The Critical Importance of Enhancing Social Entrepreneurship Learning Pathways to Recover From the COVID-19 Economic Crisis

Abstract

Social enterprises (SE) have long been recognised as a significant part of society and as a yardstick for the wider concern of community stakeholders to the general wellbeing and quality of life of the population. Furthermore, in countries that have embraced the free market with limited government, particularly in post-financial-crisis enforced austerity fiscal budgets, the role of the SE is extremely important in contributing to community wellbeing. Now the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has dealt a crushing blow to many economic, social, and entrepreneurial activities with its associated lockdowns and government mandated restrictions on economic activities. It is imperative, given the devastating economic impact of the epidemic and subsequent lockdowns, that efforts to encourage SE and social entrepreneurship be redoubled and receive government assisted training for these efforts. Creating robust and effective learning pathways informed by the need to support a building back better ethos is key to the future of social innovation and social enterprise-based economic activities.