Social Enterprising could be defined as a concept or an attempt to address certain anomalies in the society by using the business methods to make a profit which would be reinvested in the business and in implementation of activities with social aim.Consequently, Social Enterprises could be defined as commercial entities with a non-profit character. They do not share profit with shareholders or owners of the capital like regular private-sector businesses but reinvest their revenues into social programmes to meet the social needs of their target group. Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose.

Starting from November 2010, the British Embassy in Macedonia supports the Center for Institutional Development in an attempt to promote this concept in our country that in long terms should lead to increased sustainability of the civil society and will help decrease the unemployment. “Piloting Social Enterprising concept in Macedonia" is the name of the project that we are implementing in a joint cooperation with the Euclid Networkfrom UK. This is the first project of this kind in Macedonia and as such draw great attention in the public. The main motives behind the project were to facilitate the development and the implementation of the social enterprising concept in Macedonia by bringing the World experiences and more specifically the UK expertise for the issue. So far CIRa has achieved the following:

• Developed Feasibility Study on the social enterprise concept with recommendations for further development of this model in Macedonia. The Study includes an overview of the social enterprise model in US and Europe, analysis of the current situation and legal opportunities in Macedonia as well as the findings from the terrain research about understanding and perception of civil society organizations, companies and relevant institutions for further practice of this model.
• Organized Round Table with presence of experts and 65 CSO leaders and other stakeholders to explore the opinions about the current opportunities for implementation of the social enterprise model and share the experiences and best practices in this regard. Participant on the Round Table have shown interest to become part of a National Network or Platform that will further on work on Agenda for advocacy and lobbying for the additional adjustments of the legal environment.
• Delivered Training for 25 CSO Leaders from Macedonia about Sustainable funding, Social Enterprise and EU/IPA funding mechanisms. The training was organized by CIRa and Euclid and delivered by Cliff Southcombe from Social Enterprise Europe Ltd. from UK. In the follow up phase, CIRa experts mentored development of 3 IPA Applications focused on the sustainability issues and solving social problems through social enterprise activities. 
• Developed the first web page on social enterprise in Macedonia: www.socialenterprise.org.mk along with tailored Handbook on Financial Sustainability and Accessing EU Funding, including tools for sound financial management and case studies.

FURTHER CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN MACEDONIA

In the upcoming period CIRa intends tocreate strong partnerships with experienced organizations around Europe to work jointly on further development of the Social Enterprises in Macedonia. According to the feasibility Study there is great interest for the issue especially between the CSOs and basic regulation that helps establishing and running a social enterprise. In this regard it is very important to address the following issues that have been stressed as conclusions from the Feasibility Study and the Round Table:

• There is a need for broader discussion and explanation of the terms social enterprising and self-financing activity. CSOs are lacking information for commercial activities and the social enterprise concept. In this regard, we could run a National campaign to increase the level of information and public understanding about the social enterprises and organize learning workshops. More focused approach to promotion should be offered for increasing the awareness to the governmental bodies, public servants and CSO representatives about the benefits from this model. We should strengthen the networking for sharing experiences and information but also to use the collective understanding to “spread the word”. Additionally, it would be useful to work with experts and academia on development of formal and non-formal courses and curricula for further education of young social enterprise leaders.
• It is necessary to receive the formal explanation on the Law on associations and foundations from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance especially regarding the articles about economic activities of CSOs, public interest and public authorization. In this regard we might work on strengthening the capacities of the Governmental institutions for increasing the cooperation with civil society, to work on additional legal changes and policies that will support the growth of the social enterprises in Macedonia.
• To promote the CSOs as service providers of high quality services. In this regard we can work on strengthening the capacities of CSO for implementation of quality standards of their products and services, defining their business models, work on their branding and public image.
• Municipalities and other Ministries to count how much money they will save by partnering with CSOs. In this regard we might work on development on a model for contracting and cooperation between civil society organizations and the governmental institutions both central and local (as for example the model of Social Contracting promoted by the Ministry of labour and social policy)
• It would be good to have more funding opportunities for starting social enterprise. In this regard we could work with the banking sector in improving the portfolio of services that will be offered to CSOs and social enterprises, lobby between the Development donors to increase their support for development initiatives as social entrepreneurship, or work with governmental officials to create public fund for seed money for starting a social enterprise and additional funds for operating and growing the business.