Hong Kong’s first social enterprise conference

At the start of April, I was one of four speakers from Britain who joined panellists from Harvard, Taiwan and Hong Kong and some 300 delegates at Hong Kong’s first social enterprise conference. The initiative was organized jointly by the Commission on Poverty and the Central Policy Unit to bring together parties interested in the development of social enterprise and to pave the way for more informed debate on the architecture of policy and regulatory frameworks.

The background was set by the Interim Report on Social Enterprise and Anti-Poverty, which reported an evolving social enterprise sector (see www.cop.gov.hk), together with well informed ministerial contributions.

It is difficult to transfer the UK experience where tax breaks play a significant role in philanthropy to a country where tax rates are low (highest is 15 per cent) and most of the population do not pay any tax. Yet there is a familiar problem to resolve: although poverty is measured in relative terms, there is an increasing disparity between the wealthiest and the poorest. As businessmen move manufacturing plants to the mainland, so they add to unemployment and social problems in their own backyard. Tax incentives to encourage them to be socially responsible citizens don’t work, nor is the government well placed to plug the gap on the back of three years of budget deficits.

Some charities have developed enterprise models, but these are often more akin to sheltered workshops. However, there was a willingness to consider ways of becoming less dependent on traditional sources of funding. While the host organizations (the Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Community Chest and the Community Investment and Inclusion Fund) have all added to a more diversified funding base, the future of social enterprise resourcing will depend on greater partnership among government, business and citizens.

Meanwhile traditional philanthropy still flourishes. It was not lost on this writer that during our stay Hong Kong hosted the regional launch of Cambridge University’s £1 billion appeal, with tycoon Li Ka-shing donating HK$224.6 million for the new cancer research centre which will be named after him. Nor is it lost on the business sector that they currently get far more for their philanthropic dollars in mainland China than in Hong Kong.

Malcolm Hayday is Chief Executive of Charity Bank in the UK. Email mhayday@charitybank.org

For more information
www.seconference.gov.hk