1. Introduction:
According to the Business professor, a social venture can be described as a formal
agreement, a contract, or an undertaking to solve social problems or effecting social change.
So, a social venture can be better explained as the incorporation of business skills to solve
social or societal problems.
Why social venture/Social business development is important?
Social venture or social business development bring business from seed and start-up stage
into growth stage of their business cycle through a great support and a well described
business plan and business model canvas.
This paper will discuss the different challenges face by young African entrepreneur, the area
of work of several experts and organizations that promote and support social enterprises,
and possible solution or action that can be done.
2. Addressing the problem:
In recent years, the world has experienced considerable volatility—financial breakdowns,
natural disasters, wars, and other disruptions. Looking at African countries with the highest
rate of poverty, its event worst. In regards to the 2019 Global Social Franchising Index, the
top 10 countries ranked are all in Africa namely: Gambia, Liberia, Chad, Lesotho, Mauritania,
Swaziland, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Benin. It's important to mention that these are
the countries that may benefit most from social entrepreneurship.
Social venture and social business development in Africa face many challenges, of which the
most are such as follow: Financial education, market sustainability and growth and business
development. We also observed a lack of Non-financial support (mentoring and consulting
services) to enterprise growth and development in many Africa country, therefore,
entrepreneurs (especially those who lead social enterprises) are often left to themselves in
the daily struggle for survival.
The key problems that many young African faces are:
Lack of necessary knowledge and skills due to insufficient human resources;
Lack of financial education and good mentoring
Knowledge on how to running a business “by passion”, without a clearly defined
business model.
Therefore, there is a need of new approaches to the world’s toughest economic challenges
and social problems. Entrepreneurs can play a central role in finding the solutions, driving
economic growth (building infrastructure, developing local talent, infusing struggling regions
with investment capital) and helping hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
2. Addressing the problem:
In recent years, the world has experienced considerable volatility—financial breakdowns,
natural disasters, wars, and other disruptions. Looking at African countries with the highest
rate of poverty, its event worst. In regards to the 2019 Global Social Franchising Index, the
top 10 countries ranked are all in Africa namely: Gambia, Liberia, Chad, Lesotho, Mauritania,
Swaziland, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Benin. It's important to mention that these are
the countries that may benefit most from social entrepreneurship.
Social venture and social business development in Africa face many challenges, of which the
most are such as follow: Financial education, market sustainability and growth and business
development. We also observed a lack of Non-financial support (mentoring and consulting
services) to enterprise growth and development in many Africa country, therefore,
entrepreneurs (especially those who lead social enterprises) are often left to themselves in
the daily struggle for survival.
The key problems that many young African faces are:
Lack of necessary knowledge and skills due to insufficient human resources;
Lack of financial education and good mentoring
Knowledge on how to running a business “by passion”, without a clearly defined
business model.
Therefore, there is a need of new approaches to the world’s toughest economic challenges
and social problems. Entrepreneurs can play a central role in finding the solutions, driving
economic growth (building infrastructure, developing local talent, infusing struggling regions
with investment capital) and helping hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
3. Addressing the solution:
In the recent years, program like WIDU, the Business Ideas for development (BID) founded
by GIZ, the Siemens Stiftung and others programs as well have offered an opportunities to
many third countries nationals, especially Africans. The programs were created to assess
existing business models and empower businesses in their early stage to implement basic
business planning principles and regularly assess short-term operational business plans,
based on defined KPIs, as well as to enhance managerial knowledge and skills of key
personnel. In this way the programs and the coaches or mentors could support social
entrepreneurs to impact lives and create meaningful change in their local communities.
The program objective is to support social enterprises that include a clear social component
in their business operations (improvement of the environment, social inclusion, support to
local community development, employment of disadvantaged groups, etc.). The coaching
and financial support of the experts, coaches and organisations aims to help social
enterprises move into a market-viable business model that has the potential to ensure
growth and development of the enterprise and positively affect the community in which it
operates.
Figure 1: WIDU success stories in numbers
Source: WIDU.africa
4. Conclusion
To conclude, social venture and social business development by unleashing the efficiencies
of entrepreneurial initiatives and proven business methods, and the multiplicative effects,
can make a meaningful difference and provide better living conditions, hope and
opportunity for millions of people in Africa’s most deprived countries.
5. References
A. Harvard Business Review: Making Social Ventures Work, September 2010
https://hbr.org/2010/09/making-social-ventures-work
B. The Business professor, April 13, 2022
https://thebusinessprofessor.com/en_US/business-management-amp-operations-
strategy-entrepreneurship-amp-innovation/social-venture-definition
Paper written on July 03, 2022 by André Romial Kenmogne. Romial Kenmogne is a serial
entrepreneur, investor, consultant, trainer and philanthropist.
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