The international SEFORÏS project, led by researchers from 7 EU member states, Russia and China, started in 2014 as a follow-up to the SELUSI project. SEFORÏS’ aim is to better understand the role that social enterprises play in the development of - and the evolution towards inclusive and innovative societies. SEFORÏS ‘internationally leading research provides unique insights regarding the state of social entrepreneurship in the EU and beyond.

After eight months of data analysis and nine months of surveying more than 1.000 social entrepreneurs and working with social entrepreneur support organisations and financing organisations, the SEFORÏS project can proudly present its first findings in six in-depth country reports. A study like this has never been conducted before and is unique in its kind, since the survey participants engaged in extensive conversations with SEFORÏS researchers, offline as well as online. The country reports consist of a number of national and international trends related to social entrepreneurship, from financing to operational models and multiple demographic factors.

SEFORIS country report on Sweden prepared by the research team of the Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE) sheds light on how social entrepreneurs organise their business, identifies the primary beneficiaries from their activities, reveals what legal forms social entrepreneurs use, brings to light their sources of liquidity and revenues and provides policy suggestions to Sweden’s government. For example, Sweden stands out amid other surveyed countries when it comes to serving children and youth as primary beneficiaries – 42% of social enterprises indicate that children and youth are their primary beneficiaries. Sweden also tops the list of surveyed European countries where social entrepreneurs report for annual revenue growth that exceeds 20% - between 2013 and 2014 from surveyed social entrepreneurs 42% reported revenue growth that surpasses 20% per year. In total 106 social enterprises were interviewed in Sweden.  

The next step in the SEFORÏS project will be an in-depth cross-country comparison of the collected data, in order to better understand holistic trends, facts and figures.

Please see more details about the state of social entrepreneurship in Sweden and other surveyed countries on SEFORÏS’ website or read the report on SITE's Slideshare channel below.