South Africa Workshop for Social Entrepreneurship - 2008/Reflections/Overview of Student Social Entrepreneurship

Bob Hawkins, World Bank Institute Presentation: South African National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship

Bob Hawkins informed the workshop that the South African Government is currently engaging with the World Bank in an effort to determine how international experiences and expertise can be adapted and used locally to foster partnerships facilitating local and regional activities for addressing social entrepreneurship.

Why the World Bank? Essentially, the World Bank can assist in developing a knowledge programme with areas of focus which include:

• Urban development
• Private Sector Development
• Infrastructure
• Land Reform and Agriculture
• Environment
• Service Delivery
• Science and Technology, and
• Knowledge for Development

In 2006 a Knowledge Economy conference was held, facilitated by the WBI, whereat it was determined that:

• Education is fundamental to success in a Knowledge Economy – education must respond to the market’s demand.
• Universities play a vital role in that they are potential centres for development and the custodians of core expertise
• Technology (particularly ICT) is a driver for innovation
• Innovation can drive growth
• Community innovations and indigenous knowledge are a key component of knowledge economies

Teaching/research ==> Venture Creation ==> Commerce

Central to the development of a Knowledge Economy is an understanding of:

• The speed at which change is happening, particularly with regards to the changing face of technology
• The vital importance of networking
• Inculcating into society a culture of continual learning
• Reliability, without which a business will not survive in our increasingly competitive world

A company which understands change and can therefore continually adapt its position within its market generally tends to succeed at an astounding pace.

The new Knowledge Economy needs a skilled workforce which is well educated and trained so that it can access, apply and, where possible, create knowledge. However, in order to do this education must be linked to the real world i.e. it must be practical and applicable to its community and the needs of its economy. Creative thinking is vital to success as it allows problem solvers to identify challenges as well as implement remedial action. If education is aligned to an economy and its needs then entrepreneurship will find an environment within it which it can incubate, create and ultimately “make things happen”.

South African finds itself in a difficult position. One of the most negative factors influencing the Knowledge Economy in this country is the ever-widening gap of inequality between the rich and the poor. 57% of South Africans live on less than R3 000 per year and 25% to 40% have no “proper” jobs. Coupled with these two fraught statistics are the lack of service delivery on the part of Government and the abysmal performance of the favoured centralised model of governance and policy implementation which has not been able to respond to development demands.

Image: knowledge economy pace of change - exponential growth of innovation in the new economy vs slow linear growth in public institutions - with the difference being the Innovation Response Gap.

Workshop Objectives

In concluding his presentation Mr Hawkins informed the delegates that the objectives of the workshop were to create among the delegates:

• Energy
• A sense of community
• Ideas
• Possibilities

“Social entrepreneurship uses entrepreneurial and business skills to create innovative approaches to social problems.” (Ashoka)