Sougha : a public-owned establishment, assessed as a social enterprise in the UAE

• Main Author: Johnsen, Sarah Emmanuelle
• Other Authors: Villagómez Morales, V. E.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Social enterprise; United Arab Emirates; GCC; Economic empowerment; Culture preservation; Capacity building; Social inclusion; Social constructivism; Public sector; Benchmark; 338.04095357; Social entrepreneurship > United Arab Emirates; Sustainable development > United Arab Emirates; Economic development > United Arab Emirates
• Online Access: Johnsen, Sarah Emmanuelle (2015) Sougha: A public-owned establishment, assessed as a social enterprise in the UAE, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19215>; http://hdl.handle.net/10500/19215

The United Arab Emirates are challenged to include the national workforce into their increasingly diversified and knowledge-based economic vision. The federal Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development incubates Sougha, a non-profit company acting as market intermediary for Emirati artisans. This study aims at providing an insight into Sougha‘s potential to become a social enterprise. A pragmatic and exploratory approach is followed. An iterative process underpins the concept of social enterprise from established literature, re-visits it through a social constructivist lens as an emerging topic in the GCC region, and benchmarks Sougha against two selected social enterprise frameworks, based on data analysis from documents and interviews. Sougha demonstrates social value creation while its commercial value creation is restricted to social mission activities. Financial motives are insufficiently reflected in Sougha‘s strategic documentation; leaving doubt to whether Sougha is genuinely seeking financial sustainability, which endangers its eligibility as a social enterprise. === Development Studies === M.A. (Development Studies)