Page 94 - Social Enterprise A New Business Paradigm for Thailand

strengthens the capacity of financial intermediaries to connect social enterprises with funding
sources more efficiently.

The European Social Fund (ESF) has played a pivotal role in advancing the development of social

enterprises in countries that lack sufficient government support. It has opened up new
opportunities and generated momentum for the emergence of social enterprises, particularly in
Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, where the ESF has often been the sole source of
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funding for such enterprises and their surrounding ecosystems.
Box 3.1: The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+)

The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) serves as the European Union’s primary instrument for
advancing human development and safeguarding the social rights of its citizens. It supports
initiatives across employment, education, workforce skill development, and structural reform
in a variety of sectors. ESF+ brings together four pre-existing financial instruments introduced
during the 2014–2020 programming period: (1) the European Social Fund (ESF), (2) the Fund
for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), (3) the Youth Employment Initiative, and (4) the
European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI), as previously discussed.

For the 2021–2027 period, ESF+ has been allocated a total budget of EUR 142.7 billion to build
upon progress made in earlier phases. Its administration is divided into two components:
• Shared management: Managed jointly by EU member states and the European
Commission, covering EUR 142 billion, of which EUR 95.1 billion comes directly from the
EU budget.
• EaSI, now continuing under ESF+ and administered solely by the European Commission, has
been allocated a separate budget of EUR 762 million. This portion specifically supports
micro-enterprises and social enterprises, building on the initiatives implemented between
2014 and 2020.

3.2 Social Enterprises in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is one of the countries with a large and diverse social enterprise sector. A
2015 report by the British Council indicated that there were approximately 70,000 social
enterprises operating in the UK. These enterprises generated over 2 million jobs and contributed
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more than £24 billion to the national economy.

UK law does not provide a single, formal definition of a social enterprise. However, official
government publications offer the following definition of a “Social Enterprise”:

33 European Commission, Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe, op. cit., Page 75.
34 British Council, Social enterprise in the UK, 2015, p. 5.
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