Know About Business (KAB), an entrepreneurship education program, and the China Youth Daily publication recently released the results attained from 144 surveys on social entrepreneurship.
One of the striking outcomes was that there are nearly twice as many males as females in China in the field of social entrepreneurship.
Based upon the responses from social-entrepreneurship organizations, most of which are located in the major cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, around 66 percent of the organizations' leaders or founders are men, while 34 percent are women.
In terms of age, university students were identified as key players in the sector. Approximately 88 percent of organizational leaders are between the ages of 18 and 30 years, while 74 percent of the founders launched their initiatives while between the ages of 18 and 25 years.
However, many of the survey participants directed their attention toward governmental bodies and corresponding policies. More than half of the organizations' leaders called upon the government to foster the development of social entrepreneurship through policy mechanisms, while a similar proportion expressed a hope that the government can address bureaucracy-related issues and deal with work-efficiency matters.
Governmental financial assistance and educational campaigns were highlighted as the most pressing concerns, though. The vast majority--96 percent--of respondents indicated that students need to be educated on the topic of social entrepreneurship so that social responsibility is promoted among the younger generations of China.
KAB is a program that was jointly launched by Beijing universities in Aug. 2005. It receives corporate sponsorship from brands such as Nokia and China Mobile.