Just before Christmas I had coffee with a young Czech friend of mine, who after several years working in a social enterprise in East Oxford, was returning to his homeland to take on the management of his father's company, which manufactures equipment for the baking industry. I think I might have commented about him becoming a capitalist, but he laughed and said that the business was not really for-profit, indeed he said it's a social enterprise that really only existed to keep its workers in employment rather than make money.
I was rather taken aback by this definition of a social enterprise. But this type of approach is not so uncommon in the Czech Republic, a legacy of communist times, there are plenty of other unprofitable businesses out there. What will become of them when the recession bites? If they could not make money in times of boom, what will happen in times of bust? I wished my young friend good luck, I fear he will need it.
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