Lecture on Social Entrepreneurship Held at the SEI Center
In cooperation with the Department for Economic Development, Sports and Culture of the Government of Brčko District, a lecture “From Idea to Social Change – How to Start a Social Enterprise” was held at the SEI Center on Friday, October 31, 2025.
According to Željko Novaković, an entrepreneurship expert at the SEI Center, the aim of the lecture was to promote the concept of social entrepreneurship, especially since there are currently no registered social enterprises in Brčko. He emphasized that establishing at least one such enterprise is among the key goals to be achieved by the end of this year within the project “Socioeconomic Inclusion in Brčko District BiH.”
The Brčko District BiH budget for this year includes funds to support, develop, and establish social entrepreneurship. Therefore, the lecture was focused on engaging interested entrepreneurs and explaining the prerequisites for starting a social enterprise.
“A social enterprise, according to the Law on Social Entrepreneurship, must employ a certain percentage of people from marginalized groups. The law clearly defines which groups these are — among them are women, young people, persons with disabilities, the long-term unemployed, and members of national minorities,” explained Novaković.
To ensure successful implementation and future operation of social enterprises, SEI project partners had the opportunity to visit Prague and Belgrade, where they learned about good practices and positive examples of social entrepreneurship.
“The most common types of social enterprises are those involved in food production — such as bakeries, pastry shops, or catering services. We also encountered examples of production-oriented enterprises engaged in recycling materials, particularly paper. For instance, in Prague, there is a large factory employing around one hundred workers who sort and recycle waste,” Novaković added.
Head of the Subdepartment for Economy, Amra Abadžić, stated that the current year’s budget allocates 100,000 convertible marks for the support, development, and establishment of social entrepreneurship.
“These are initial funds. Our goal is to establish a sustainable support system for social entrepreneurship. The law was adopted back in 2022, but the real foundations for developing this form of support came only after the adoption of the decision on the Register of Social Enterprises — a bylaw necessary for the law to be fully implemented,” Abadžić emphasized.
