Current Context and Perspectives of Social Entrepreneurship in Georgia

Abstract

Social entrepreneurs serve vulnerable groups by providing them with services and making an effort to solve social problems in an innovative way. The recent pandemic and economic crises emphasize the need to study social enterprises in terms of their contribution to society and the economy but also how they were affected by the crisis. Since market failure has become common in Georgia as the rapid transformation toward the market economy facilitated less ethical and more profit-oriented business behaviour and as ineffective government actions deepened social inequality, social entrepreneurship is considered to be a successful opportunity. This chapter intends to overview the present state of social entrepreneurship in Georgia. It is based on the research conducted by the author aiming to comprehensively investigate Georgian social enterprises. Findings suggest that social enterprises can facilitate solving newly arisen social problems, but they require state support to survive.