On June 17, the Interregional gathering of social entrepreneurs of the North-West took place at GSOM SPbU campus “Mikhailovskaya Dacha”. The participants discussed the formation of an ecosystem for the development of social entrepreneurship at the interregional level. Social entrepreneurs, experts of the federal and regional levels, representatives of state authorities, foundations and organizations, as well as representatives of business, the non-profit sector and educational institutions took part in this event. 

 

 

Photo from the government of Leningrad region website

 

“Social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility are topics that for a long time have been associated with GSOM SPbU. Since 2008, we have a corporate social responsibility center that deals with the development of social entrepreneurship and corporate volunteering. Within our walls, we try to educate socially responsible managers and businessmen. Therefore, this collaboration is very important for us,” said Konstantin Krotov, Head of GSOM SPbU.

Alexander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region said that today social entrepreneurship is developing, including in cooperation with the authorities. “Compared to the 2018 level, the amount of such enterprises increased to 37.5%. It is the result of the region’s active work in creating a favorable business climate,” said Alexander Drozdenko in a welcoming speech. As an example, he cited the work of private kindergartens. The region decided to compensate kindergartens 18 thousand rubles per child, provided that the parent fee does not exceed 5 thousand rubles. Thus, the region expects to solve the problem of lack of places in kindergartens in areas of intensive residential construction.

A plenary session and several thematic sessions were held as part of the business program of the meeting. At the plenary session “Building an Efficient Infrastructure for Supporting and Developing an Ecosystem of Social Entrepreneurship: What Is Important and What Is Necessary?”, representatives of the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg authorities, the top management of Lukoil and the leaders of the social business support funds discussed formats of social entrepreneurship support from the state. The discussion was moderated by Associate Professor of the Department of Strategic and International Management, Director of the PwC Center for Corporate Social Responsibility Yuri Blagov.

This year, the Interregional Meeting of Social Entrepreneurs of the North-West Region was held for the first time. It was attended by more than 400 people from the Leningrad Region and St. Petersburg, the Pskov and Novgorod regions and other subjects of the North-West Federal District, as well as from Moscow, Ugra, the Republic of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. It is planned that the meeting will become an annual event with an increasing number of participants who will be able to present their projects, get advice from leading industry experts, exchange experience with colleagues and be inspired by new ideas for business development in the Russian regions.

 

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