ADDIS ABABA– Job Creation Commission is revising job creation strategy that prioritizes social enterprises and is expected to be approved in six months of time.
The government started revising its strategy which would benefit social enterprises as the sector is a key to redress social problems, Job Creation Commissioner Ephrem Takele told The Ethiopian Herald.
Of course, Ethiopia has no policy on social enterprises. But this does not mean that social enterprises are undermined. However, he added that special attention should be afforded to social enterprises since their social impacts are huge. “Accordingly, we are revising our strategy which envisages attaching priorities to the entrepreneurs.”
To him, the newly planned strategy will be operational after six months. Nevertheless, the government has been working to support entrepreneurs by supplying workplace and other basic startups. “We’re working with entrepreneurs including social enterprises, especially during their startup stage,” Epherem noticed.
Ethiopia is ranked among countries with huge potential of creating social enterprises. However, the country has no policy on social enterprises. This problem arouses dissatisfaction on the side of entrepreneurs.
Kibret Abebe is President of Association of Social Enterprise Ethiopia and Founder and CEO of Tebita Ambulance. He told The Ethiopian Herald that Ethiopia has ample potential in creating more jobs with social enterprises. “However, absence of well-arranged bureaucratic set up and poor law enforcement still get entrepreneurs into difficulty.”
The country has myriads of social problems; which in turn create opportunity for social entrepreneurs to come up with innovative and job creating projects. But, absence of pertinent legal frameworks and incentives is putting entrepreneurs on tough condition and posing startup financial constraints.
“I sold my house to set up Tebita because of the financial constraints I faced during startup stage. And the government should be giving special support for entrepreneurs so that they would be able to overcome same challenges I faced,” he described.
The government has not still drawn any legal document to define social enterprise. This in turn pushes innovators to focus on profit maximization than social impact, he added.
If legal and bureaucratic hurdles are eased, the possibilities to create more enterprises are very high since the sector is untapped yet, he remarked.
In Ethiopia, the number and role of social enterprises is growing fast. There are more than 55,000 social enterprises in the country.
The government has created 1,184,868 jobs over the last six months, the Commission’s report indicates. The government has planned to create three million jobs during the current fiscal year
The Ethiopian Herald February 28/2020
BY YESUF ENDRIS
