ASU Opens Association of Social Entrepreneurs

The ceremony took place at the Boiling Point Centre of Astrakhan State University. The association kicked start to its activities under support of the Our Future Foundation and representatives of the Astrakhan municipal and regional authorities.

Addressing the audience with a welcoming speech, ASU Rector Konstantin Markelov noted the high relevance of social entrepreneurship for the region and stressed that the active development of this industry is an important component of social development.

The new association also received words of support from Minister of Social Development and Labor of Astrakhan region Oleg Petelin, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Astrakhan region Olga Fomina, Head of the Entrepreneurship Support Department of the Astrakhan Administration Diana Asabaeva, Head of the Centre for Social Innovation Maria Inshina, Deputy of the Astrakhan Regional Duma Larisa Mironenko and Deputy Chair of the Astrakhan Municipal Duma Lilia Ivanova.

At the event, President of the Association of Social Entrepreneurs Ekaterina Kuznetsova and representative of the Our Future Foundation Anastasia Stefanova told the participants about the basic principles of the association’s work, its values ​​and development strategy. They also called all entrepreneurs for an active social position, proposing to join the newly established structure.

At the end of the official part, entrepreneurs asked questions in the open-mic format and shared their proposals for the association’s development. Thus, many business representatives spoke about the acute shortage of HR in the industry. Konstantin Markelov made a proposal to help in solving this problem. His proposal immediately found a positive response from the audience — entrepreneurs expressed their readiness to cooperate with ASU on this issue.