How to Increase the Efficiency of Social Enterprises in Russia During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

The paper considers the examples of economic activities of social enterprises during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is shown that often social enterprises are more effective than common enterprises in their responses to the processes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A model of interaction between different actors enhancing the efficiency of social enterprises in Russia by means of providing the continuous source of cashfrow is provided. At the macro-level of this model it’s necessary to mention such institutions as the Ministry of Finance, because it is engaged in planning and controlling the process of public procurement activities, The Public Relations Committee, as it provides subsidies to nonprofit organizations and social enterprises based on the competition rules and the Public Chamber, as it is engaged in distributing the Presidential Grants to nonprofit organizations and social enterprises. The institutions that provide financial help to social enterprises in the range of 1 to 50 million rubles belong to the meso-level institutions in this model. They consist of the Moscow regional division of the All-Russian Popular Front, the charitable foundation KAF, the fund “Our Future” and the company Unilever. At the micro-level of this model there are two institutions: Impact Hub Moscow and Awesome Foundation. A contact should be set between these organizations to exchange the experience in the area of supporting social entrepreneurs and attracting the micro-grants of Awesome Foundation as the supplementary sources of support for the winners of the competition held by Impact Hub Moscow. This system should be balanced by setting direct contacts between each institution at the respective level so that it could enable these institutions to act effectively at each level of that model. First, we should conclude that these institutions should not act as isolated units. They should be implemented into the system of different actors supporting social enterprises, along with such potential investors as private sector companies and microfinance institutions. Second, these actors should interact in such manner that enables a cooperation between them. Conclusions refer to how these institutions should be arranged to make a system of interconnected units supporting social enterprises at three levels.