Poll ranks Pakistan among world's worst places for female social entrepreneurs

United States of America tops Thomson Reuters Foundation survey

Social entrepreneurs can be described as people who establish organisations that develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural or environmental issues.

Social entrepreneurship has seen increased popularity due to high levels of internet penetration, unprecedented advancements in technology and social media support.

It was on this account that Thomson Reuters Foundation conducted the world’s first experts’ poll  on countries with the most favourable conditions for social entrepreneurs.

The best place to be a social entrepreneur analysed six factors to measure the feasibility of setting up a social enterprise in each country. The factors were: government policy support, ease of acquiring skilled staff, ease of making a living, ease of accessing investment, public understanding of social entrepreneurship and the momentum social entrepreneurship is gaining in the countries surveyed.

Pakistan’s overall score at 47.7 points was enough for it to rank 32nd of the 44 countries surveyed. However, the nation turned out to be one of the worst countries for women social entrepreneurs. Pakistan finished 41 on a list of the best place to be a female entrepreneur with a total score of 54.5.



But not everything is lost. Among the other things, Pakistan ranked 17 of 44 economies with favourable conditions for social entrepreneurs.

However, the country lagged behind in the government policy support factor, coming in at 29th spot. Highlighting the constraints faced by social entrepreneurs in securing investments, the poll ranked Pakistan at a low 33 for access to investment.



The United States was named the best country for social entrepreneurs followed by Canada and the United Kingdom. Turkey came last, faring worst across most categories except access to non-financial support.



"In Pakistan there is a strong aid and philanthropic culture, whose metamorphosis into investment and social enterprise has been fast-paced. Yet a lot needs to be done with individual stakeholders to gain the true momentum that social enterprise deserves” Faraz Khan of SEED Ventures said.



The poll also shed light on the failure of public service provision which has stimulated a response from young entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurship in Pakistan is also hampered by lack of regulation. Coupled with the absence of a government department mandated with the task of supporting social enterprise, this explains the nation's poor performance in the government policy support category.