Development of social entrepreneurship and the analysis of practices in Slovenia

Social entrepreneurship is an innovative way of solving social, cultural, environmental and economic problems of society in an entrepreneurial way. In this they follow the values of creating well-being of the entire community, integration, solidarity, democratic principles and the growth of social capital. Social entrepreneurship can provide positive effects for all involved, as a profit is not in their first place. In the theoretical part, I will first define the concept of social economy and social entrepreneurship. I reviewed the research on social entrepreneurship in the European Union. I will focused on the case of the Republic of Austria, which is one of the most innovative environment for the development of social entrepreneurship in Europe. I will also present some exsamples of good practice across Europe. In Slovenia, social entrepreneurship until recently was not recognized as an important sector. This is fundamentally changing by the Law on Social Entrepreneurship (2011) and other legal documents. The research part of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of social entrepreneurship as seen by practitioners. Quantitative method (survey questionnaire) were applied to the study of registered social enterprises. With qualitative method (interview), I got a more in-depth answers from the notifiers of projects of social entrepreneurship, which were financed by public tender for promoting the development of social entrepreneurship from 2012. Findings is that social entrepreneurs still face great difficulties in doing bussines, which complicates the further development of the sector in Slovenia