Exploration of Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystems in Thailand and Myanmar

Abstract

Background: Although the social enterprise ecosystems in Thailand and Myanmar are at different levels of development, they share common challenges that need to be addressed to ensure that the sector lives up to its potential of helping these countries fully achieve their Sustainable Development Goals.
 Research objectives: The aim of this research is to identify common issues that social entrepreneurs in Thailand and Myanmar are facing within the ecosystems they operate in, and thus recommend specific actions that institutions of higher education in Thailand and Myanmar can take to support these ecosystems develop.
 Research design and methods: This research utilised desk-based secondary research from existing country reports, and primary research in the form of online surveys and focus groups with different stakeholders such as social entrepreneurs, local government officials and educators.
 Results: We identified several common challenges that social enterprises in these two countries face which include the centralisation of key ecosystem actors, lack of funding access, poor impact measurement and misconceptions of the sector as a whole among stakeholders.
 Conclusions: As a result of the research findings, we have provided several policy recommendations to higher education institutions wishing to engage and support their local social enterprise ecosystems.