Bangladesh Social Enterprise Project - Bangladesh Enterprise Institute

with concessional tax treatment, be able to unfairly compete with conventional
businesses, and we believe that this is a reasonable concern. As identified earlier,
conventional businesses play a key role in value creation and economic development
and should not be crowded out by social enterprise, which should play a quite distinct
role rather than competing directly for markets, resources and Government support.
We also believe that the lack of consensus on a definition of social enterprise in
Bangladesh (and elsewhere) means that much time could be wasted, by entrepreneurs
and Government alike, in trying to enshrine a definition in law, lobbying, and skewing
business structures to qualify for particular benefits.
3. We recommend that the Government does not consider any changes in current
company law to provide separate and distinct provisions for business organisations,
whether for‐profit or not‐for‐profit, which may be deemed informally or formally as
social enterprises.
4. Instead, we recommend that the Government, in concert with civil society and the
private sector, and teamed with a suitable not‐for‐profit organisation, support the
creation of a “brand” or “label” that, through meeting various criteria, may allow
entities to be badged by an independent source (perhaps the centre for excellence) as a
recognised social enterprise.
5. We recommend that Government plays a role in encouraging large Bangladeshi
companies and multinationals to engage more with local small and medium enterprises,
primarily through a “light‐touch” approach of setting expectations that large companies
will contribute to economic development and playing a convening role to overcome the
information gap faced by SMEs. This might be best achieved through an annual
dialogue and “reporting back” process led by Government and the various business
chambers.
BSEP: Policy Brief
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