IDEAS Insights Hungary's Social Enterprise Landscape | Page 7

This being said, many organizations usually experience capacity issues and expertise
shortfalls, while also facing difficulties in operating at their full potential. Furthermore,
the concept of social enterprise still lacks widespread public and legislative attention,
with an only embryonic academic discourse supporting it. A strong national strategy
and institutional structure to aid the sector – with corresponding government policies
– are much needed, according to social enterprise leaders across the country. They
suggest the national government should promote and support the field ‘with financial
assistance and targeted support measures, like affordable and specialised trainings to
enhance business skills, networks where peer-to-peer learning and experience sharing
is possible among social enterprises.’ [6] The unpredictability of the regulatory
environment is seen as a serious impediment to the progress of social enterprise
culture, mainly perpetuating the distrust between people and state inherited from
Communist times.
Major societal issues define the nation, particularly an aging population, the integration
of Roma people, youth unemployment, but most importantly, social exclusion and
poverty. Education is another severely under-supported field receiving little attention
from the government: the young are gradually emigrating from the country, leading to
a severe national brain drain. Since 2008, the number of emigrants has tripled to 3% of
the labour force, and keeps increasing. It is almost a historical tendency, with
intellectuals and the highly-skilled leaving the country in hopes of a better future in the
West. Nonetheless, the country is still defined by low geographical mobility according
to OECD surveys, primarily concerning its economically disadvantaged rural areas in
the east and south.
On the brighter side, social enterprises have proved to be a legitimate instrument of
social progress. They are a particularly notable source of empowerment for women in
Hungary, some of which point to gender equality as their main mission. Interestingly,
61% of Hungarian social enterprise CEOs are women, who are striving to overcome
social issues experienced by their peers every day.
A salient example is the exclusion of mothers from the labour market, which has been
tackled by HelloMum, an initiative founded by Orsi Liptak in Budapest that is one of a
handful of successful ventures on the national social enterprise radar. HelloMum has
created a children-friendly community space and offers different competency training
programmes for women, by women.
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