Project description Kateryna Redko

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A NECESSARY CONDITION FOR THE TRANSITION TO THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN UKRAINE

Relevance of research. Today, Ukrainian society is going through a series of tests related to the daily situation: the development of crisis phenomena in the social, economic and political spheres. Under such conditions, the state demonstrates limited capabilities against the background of an unlimited number of unresolved social problems. A low level of material security, mass unemployment, a high share of vulnerable population groups - all this becomes an impetus for the search for alternative ways of solving social problems. One of the innovative tools for solving these issues can be the activities of social enterprises. The main areas of activity of this sector are social and economic integration into the public life of socially vulnerable sections of the population, overcoming unemployment and impoverishment, implementation of social measures, etc. However, unlike traditional business, social entrepreneurship is young, therefore, during its development, it faces a large number of problems, such as the lack of legal definition and differentiation, bureaucratic obstacles, public distrust and ignorance, the negative impact of both objective and subjective positive economic factors (adverse economic situation, inflation, rising prices, falling purchasing power of the population, competition from traditional businesses, outflow of potential investors, etc.). In the conditions of the law, the negative impact of all these factors increases, which further complicates the functioning and development of social enterprises in Ukraine.

With the beginning of the difficulties in Ukraine (both in 2014 and in 2022), there is a wave of initiatives designed to help society. They often exist as volunteer or charity projects with limited resources. Sometimes they are created in combination with business approaches and give a more permanent effect. This phenomenon has a widespread name in the world - social entrepreneurship, but in Ukraine there are false statements about it that need to be clarified.

In Europe, 15% of young people choose a business based on whether it is socially responsible. And it is not so much about corporate social responsibility, where the business gives, for example, 10% of its profit, but about involvement in the life of the community and solving local or global problems of humanity. In Europe, social business accounts for 8-10% of all businesses, and 6% of the total workforce in Europe are people who are involved in such business (according to a study by the European Development Fund).

According to a study by The Possibilists, young entrepreneurs from 137 countries around the world today are not motivated to create a business for their own needs and desires, they are motivated by the goal of improving the lives of others at the global and local levels. Due to the fact that the circumstances lead to a natural disaster in Ukraine, I believe that the solution to this problem can be the green, circular economy, which is the basis for the development of social responsibility of business. To reach a qualitatively new level of resource efficiency in the conditions of a circular economy, technological innovations and a change in the behavior of business entities, large-scale investments and state incentives will be needed.

Further research is needed on the specifics and effectiveness of using the principles of the circular economy, its adaptation for further application in Ukraine. It is possible to show the interaction between the circular economy and social responsibility business, as a systemic approach to economic development, which is called to bring progress to business, society and the environment.

Formulation of research goals (setting the task). Summarizing the theoretical and practical aspects of the circular economy through the definition of its dominant basis as the integration of sustainable development and business development under the conditions, that determine the internal and external environment of economic transformation in the context of social responsibility of business.

The information base of the research will be made up of the main provisions and the results of theoretical developments published in scientific works foreign and domestic scientists from social issues entrepreneurship, materials of conferences, periodicals, valid normative legal acts of Ukraine regulating the activities of enterprises, official materials of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, reporting enterprises, as well as Internet resources.