'Slower-than-expected recovery for social enterprises'
A survey out on Wednesday showed social enterprises have been doing better in the post-Covid era but the recovery is not as strong as they hoped for. The General Chamber of Social Enterprises surveyed 122 organisations in July to assess their operations after the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Around 80 percent of the respondents reported an increase in turnover, and over half of them said they are either positive or very positive about sales for the whole year. But the chamber also pointed out that more than half of the respondents experienced only a modest increase in turnover. The chamber’s chairman, Andy Ng, said people travelling outside of Hong Kong led to a slower-than-expected recovery in some businesses.  “Especially in the retail or in those food and beverage businesses, quite some of the Hong Kong people seem to go elsewhere," Ng said. "They don't have enough customers. So we are expecting that there's gradual improvement, but not at the pace that we're expecting.” He said most social enterprises face problems such as higher operating costs and hiring. Ng called on the government to extend the current concessional rental rate for social enterprises operating in government premises and public facilities for another year.  “I think this helped really a lot, especially during the pandemic period. Because the business is not really coming back very quickly, we are hoping that these kinds of measures could be still going on for some time,” he said.  The chamber also called for more subsidies for hiring disabled employees, as well as the distribution of consumption coupons specifically for social enterprises.