HKPC Professional Support Facilitates Growth of Social Enterprises

Leveraging its professional knowledge in business development, the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) today (27 March 2015) launches a dedicated support programme (“好社意”) to facilitate the continuous development of social enterprises in Hong Kong. An initiative of HKPC’s one-stop support centre for local small and medium enterprises, SME One, the programme features free support services in five areas. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) is the programme’s partner organization.

The launch of the programme was officiated by Ms Florence Hui, Under Secretary for Home Affairs of HKSAR Government; Mr Bernard Chan, Chairperson of HKCSS; and Dr Clement Chen, Chairman of HKPC, accompanied by Mr Chua Hoi-Wai, Chief Executive of HKCSS, and Mrs Agnes Mak, Executive Director of HKPC.

Dr Chen said, “Backed by our close to five decades of experience and expertise in supporting local industry, this programme aims to help improve the operation of the 400 plus social enterprises in Hong Kong. A survey we conducted last year revealed that over 70 per cent of responding social enterprises look for more support in marketing, information technology and human resource management. Also, most of them are interested in funding schemes that are conducive to their further development for social improvement. This programme will be their partner of growth.”

The programme offers five types of free services for social enterprises, including business model and structure review; advice on the use of information technology to increase efficiency; environmental management assessment to raise green productivity; consultation on government-funded schemes; and forging partnership and collaboration with business and industry sectors.

As the programme’s partner organization, HKCSS will bring in collaboration opportunities and case referrals to benefit more social enterprises. Mr Chan said, “To cope with rapid changes, like most SMEs in Hong Kong, social enterprises strive for breakthrough and advancement. This programme empowers the sector development through all-rounded support for social enterprises, to facilitate the growth of diversified and value-added development.”

A seminar was held after the launch to introduce successful strategies in running social enterprises.

For more information about the programme, please visit SME One at the HKPC Building, or the website: www.smeone.org. Social enterprises can also contact SME One ambassador at tel. (852) 2788 6262 or email: sme_one@hkpc.org. For other media enquiries, please contact Mr Felix Chan at tel. (852) 2788 5036 or email: felixchan@hkpc.org.

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Mr Jonathan Ho
General Manager
Corporate Communications
Hong Kong Productivity Council
Tel: (852) 2788 6390
Fax: (852) 2788 5056
Email: jonathanho@hkpc.org
Website: www.hkpc.org

27 March 2015


About the Hong Kong Productivity Council
Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) is a multi-disciplinary organization established by Statute in 1967. Its mission is to promote productivity excellence through the provision of integrated support across the value chain of Hong Kong firms, in order to achieve a more effective utilization of resources, to enhance the value-added content of products and services, and to increase international competitiveness. For more information, please visit the HKPC website at www.hkpc.org.

About the Hong Kong Council of Social Service
The Hong Kong Council of Social Service is a federation of non-government social service agencies of Hong Kong, represents more than 400 Agency Members, providing over 90% of the social welfare service through their 3,000 operating units in Hong Kong. In 2008, jointly funded by the Hongkong Bank Foundation and the Social Welfare Department’s Partnership Fund for the Disadvantaged, the HKCSS – HSBC Social Enterprise Business Centre was launched, to support over 450 social enterprise units and its beneficiaries. The Council is appointed as Intermediary of the Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund (SIE Fund) in 2014, to promote cross-sectoral collaborations and social innovation.

Ms Florence Hui, Under Secretary for Home Affairs of HKSAR Government (centre); Mr Bernard Chan, Chairperson of HKCSS (second from left); and Dr Clement Chen, Chairman of HKPC (second from right), officiate the launch of the dedicated support programme for social enterprises (“好社意”), accompanied by Mr Chua Hoi-Wai, Chief Executive of HKCSS (first from right), and Mrs Agnes Mak, Executive Director of HKPC

Note
More photos/materials from the event are now available for download from the below FTP folder:

FTP Site: ftp2.hkpc.org
Username: sesp150327
Password: SmeOne2015

These files will expire on 12:30 pm, 1 April