About 6 thousand social entrepreneurs have been registered in Russia, which exceeds the figure of the national project on small and medium entrepreneurship (SME national project) by 1.5 times, the country's Economic Development Ministry said.

"We expected that, taking into account the dynamics this year on the national project SMEs, the register will include 3.5 thousand entrepreneurs. But at the moment we have already registered almost 6 thousand entrepreneurs," said deputy head of the ministry Tatiana Ilyushnikova.

She recalled that the concept of "social enterprise" is in the narrow confines of the nonprofit charitable sector, combining social and commercial functions. The concept was enshrined legislatively in 2019.

"The definition of such a category of enterprises at the legislative level allowed to string on this legal term various forms, types of support, relying on the register of social entrepreneurs," Ilyushnikova explained.

Thus, in 2021, the agency launched a program of grant support for social enterprises in the regions within the framework of the national project. The federal budget allocated 1.2 billion rubles for that purpose. The grant of up to 500 thousand rubles can be used by entrepreneurs to start and develop their businesses. Moreover, social entrepreneurs will be able to get micro-loans at a concessionary rate.