FBR, SECP urged to help boost social entrepreneurship culture.

ISLAMABAD -- Parliamentary Secretary for National History and Literary Heritage Division Ghazala Saifi said startups, creative social enterprises, businesses and the general public usually see the regulatory bodies including Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as threat and fear to approach for any guidance.

While speaking at a roundtable meeting titled 'Regulatory Reform Priorities for Social Enterprises' organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with British Council and UNESCAP at Islamabad, she urged the regulatory bodies to work on achieving confidence of startups, social enterprises and the businesses through removing the fear factor by providing facilitation and guidance. Moreover, awareness should be raised on the rules, regulations and laws of the regulatory authorities and provided easy access to general public, she added.

Ghazala Saifi said though Creative Social Enterprises (CSE) sector has the potential to create employment and can help achieve inclusive growth, the sector is facing the issue of recognition in the legal regime due to lack of an agreeable and legit definition. She said in consultation with all stakeholders, a clear, short and agreeable definition should be defined at the earliest, which then should be debated for legit definition.

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SDPI Joint Executive Director Dr Vaqar Ahmed said social enterprises are facing the issues of financing, taxation, lack of access to public procurement opportunities, legal and regulatory. He said a legal or agreed upon definition for social enterprises can help the sector to get access to bank credit and public grants.

A certification system may be devised by the government which will recognize credible enterprises doing social work, he added. The laws governing corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Pakistan could be revised so that a specific percentage of CSR should go to social enterprises, he remarked. The process of finalizing a unified business registry at SECP should also consider including social enterprises.

He said the Budget 2018-19 allowed permanent tax exemption to some nonprofit organisations. Given that it is difficult for most social enterprises to access permanent exemption, a transparent criterion to allow exemption may be devised.

He said conventional charity and investments in life insurance are eligible for tax deduction in...