The document defines social economy and provides examples of how small businesses and startups can impact social economy. Social economy prioritizes social objectives over capital and reinvests profits into social goals. It uses democratic governance and ownership. Evoware and Crowde are examples of Indonesian startups that have positively impacted social economy. Evoware creates biodegradable products that improve livelihoods and reduce waste, while Crowde allows investment in agriculture to benefit farmers. Both companies have grown nationally and internationally.

1. Course 5:
Entrepreneurship
and social economy
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Written by: Cristiana, Jakarta Smart City Team

2. Definition of Social Economy
According to European Parliament (2016), the definition of social economy is under four category. Firstly, social economy is based on the
primacy of the person in which the main concerns are on social objectives rather than capital. The goals of social economy is to increase
wealth together with ensuring better conditions for both members and stakeholders by giving services such as health and insurance.
Social economy can be represented as a community with a share aim. Secondly, the main aim of social economy activities is to engage in
sustainable growth as instead of receiving profit, members gain social benefits and the money gained is usually invested again for social
benefit goals. Not all social economy firms major activity is to re-invest money (European Parliament, 2016).
European Parliament (2016) explained that thirdly, social economy firms has to conduct in social and economic balance. By setting a
common social goal together with producing goods and services. Social economy help to increase social capital and gaining trust
between societies. Efficiency are maximised by increasing motivation and innovation entrepreneurial activities for example, voluntary
work, donations. Fourthly, social economy usually uses democratic governance and ownership as stakeholder can engage in decision
making process and transparency is performed. Social enterprise participate in “one person, one vote” structure. This structure promotes
empowerment and trust within the social firms and helps to create awareness (European Parliament, 2016).
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3. Importance of small business and business
start up can impact social economy
According to Amin, Cameron and Hudson (2002), the main importance of social economy is concerning
about people’s need. The level of success is mainly judged through developing a wider community
and employment created. The number of people involved in a voluntary or learning capacity benefits
number of producers and users in the ability to generate income in a community. It provides job and
promote economic growth within the community. By promoting small business and start-ups to join
social community, it increases both social and economic well being of local communities and
therefore creating a more democratic society which provides equal opportunities and social justice as
it can also generate income within the community (Amin, Cameron and Hudson, 2002).
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4. Examples of how small business and business start up can
impact social economy in Indonesia and International context
.According to Hadi (2017), Evoware is a local indonesian start up company that makes glass made from
natural ingredients such as seaweed, so it is safe to eat. If not eaten, Evoware glass can decompose
naturally within one to two months, and become fertilizer for plants. This makes the use of Evoware
glass can reduce the use of non-environmentally friendly materials for glass. The company won a
prize of US $ 3,660 (around Rp50 million) after becoming one of the winners of the Idea Category,
which is an award for startups that are still in the stage of market validation and trial (Hadi, 2017).
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5. Examples of how small business and business start up can
impact social economy in Indonesia and International context
According to Evoware (2018), the company is considered as one of the players that impacts
both social economy in Indonesia and internationally. The company has a social responsibility
to increase awareness to improve environmentally friendly lifestyles to society. Evoware
creates products that is targeted towards environmental protection and reduce waste
problems. The products produced are eco-friendly and biodegradable. The company has a
common social mission “is to create innovative solutions from seaweed to solve plastic waste
issue, while increasing the livelihood of Indonesia’s seaweed farmers”. Evoware created huge
social impact to reduce plastic waste and improve well being of seaweed farmers in Indonesia
by increasing the income of farmers (Evoware, 2018).
Evoware (2018) explained that Evoware stated that the company applied international safety
standard procedures such as ISO in January 2018 to increase internationalization and raise
awareness globally. The company then decided to export to targeted countries that has a
demand for the products produced such as Singapore, Japan, Korea and America. It raises
environmental awareness worldwide (Evoware, 2018).
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6. Examples of how small business and business start up can
impact social economy in Indonesia and International context
Another example may include Crowde, which is social enterprise and a crowdfunding platform website that everyone can
use to invest in agriculture. A plant will be planted immediately once the expected funding target in the Crowde platform is
reached. By investing in Crowde, everybody that invested can get a profit of around 30 percent from the sale of plants that
were successfully harvested (Hadi, 2017).
In the SVC Asia 2017 event, they won a prize of US $ 14,600 (around Rp.197 million) from DBS Foundation after successfully
becoming one of the winners of the Enterprise Category, which is an award for startups who have been able to earn
revenue. According to Crowde (2018), the company has impacted social economy nationally and internationally. Crowde
gives you opportunities for mutual cooperation to build the nation by helping profitable and promising farming business
capital. By providing this opportunity, it helps to improve the well being of farmers by giving them income and revenue
(Crowde, 2018).
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7. References (Course 5) Academic source
Amin, A., Cameron, A. and Hudson, R. (2002). Placing the Social Economy. [online]
Socialnaekonomija.si. Available at:
http://socialnaekonomija.si/wp-content/uploads/Ash_Amin_Placing_the_Social_Economy_
.pdf [Accessed 15 Nov. 2018].
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8. References (Course 5) Non-Acedemic
Crowde. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.crowde.co/ [Accessed 16 Nov. 2018].
European Parliament. (2016). DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES
POLICY DEPARTMENT A: ECONOMIC AND SCIENTIFIC POLICY Social
Economy [online] Available at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/578969/IPOL_STU(2016)578
969_EN.pdf [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].
Evoware, (2018). About us [online] Available at: http://www.evoware.id/ [Accessed 14 Nov.
2018].
Evoware. (2018). [online] Available at:
https://media-openideo-rwd.oiengine.com/attachments/90bdc0d4-5187-4891-805b-8d
89d16bf304.pdf [Accessed 14 Nov. 2018].
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