Social Entrepreneurship Formation in Ukraine in the Context of Sustainable Development

The article deals with the general approach to understanding the social entrepreneurship essence, the concept of which, unlike entrepreneurship as a whole, its different types in terms of income and employees, is not defined by law; analysis of various information sources to compare approaches to defining the concept of social entrepreneurship; presents socially active entrepreneurs and public figures who have contributed to the social entrepreneurship development in Ukraine. In order to determine the main features of social entrepreneurship, the articlepoints out its differences from a charitable organization and traditional business by such factors as structure, dependence on external and internal financial sources, types of income and directions of profit distribution, and also analyzes the motives of social entrepreneurs. Special attention s paid to the analysis of economic indicators that characterize the social enterprise development effectiveness in the world. In particular, data from the United Kingdom, Israel and Italy were analyzed, which show significant financial prospects for the countries. The authors found that in Ukraine there are already numerous examples of organizations that support social entrepreneurship. The article describes for the selected organizations their activities and the nature of the social entrepreneurship concept. At the same time, five paradoxes that arose in Ukraine in the field of social entrepreneurship were mentioned as following: the main source of income for working in the social sphere entrepreneurs are grants that are not fundamentally in contact with international practice; the carelessness of entrepreneurs who are not concerned about the future of a company created with borrowed funds; absolute lack of support from the state; lack of interest in state supporting; an excess of laws in the country that contradict each other.According to the results of the research, the authors present obstacles to the concept of social entrepreneurship implementation in Ukraine and the steps needed to stimulate development. Taking into account current trends in the world development, the authors outline the global goals of UN sustainable development, which covers social entrepreneurship as a type of economic activity.