Is it happening? Is it not?
In 2009 I decided to do some more research on social entrepreneurship practice in Africa. The preliminary findings were surprising and disappointing - few publications, a number of small initiatives, few recognised large-scale homegrown initiatives, no clear government involvement, absence of academic institutions, limited debate and exchange of experiences.
A 2008 study by Brock and Ashoka's Global Academy for Social Enterprise confirmed the absence of serious academic engagement with social entrepreneurship. The study identified about 130 business schools and academies offering undergraduate and post-graduate training in social entrepreneurship. None of them were in Africa. Nearly 500 faculty were identified. Only four were in Africa. All of them in one country - South Africa. Did this indicate bias?
In 2005 when I first undertook research on social entrepreneurship, Ashoka was one of the few organisations that had consistently recognised, supported and honoured African social entrepreneurs. Not that I always agreed with them on some of their choices. Often I doubted the extent to which projects were innovative or could be scaled up or out. Given the history of Ashoka, I doubt they would have published a biased study. Brock has done considerable work on social entrepreneurship and would be unlikely to miss a serious academic programme on the subject.
Trawling the net yielded a few scattered recorded initiatives. In contrast, discussions with friends and colleagues suggested that social entrepreneurship is alive and well on the continent. I must however state here that part of getting a meaningful discussion has been to describe the practice of social entrepreneurship. The term is not readily recognised. To aid discussions, I have often used the definitions of Austin, Stevenson, and Wei-Skillern (2006) and Mair and Marti (2006).
Austin, Stevenson and Wei-Skillern define social entrepreneurship as:
'entrepreneurial activity with an embedded social purpose'.
Mair and Marti define it as:
"a process involving the innovative use and combination of resources to pursue opportunities to catalyze social change and/or address social needs'
Having compiled a good library - I am very proud of it! - of 140 research papers and articles - of which very few are about Africa or discuss the broader context of African social entrepreneurship, I am now, more than ever, convinced something is amiss.
Whose social entrepreneurship
My confirmation came when I can across a discussion started by Rod Schwartz on the discussion forums of Social Edge. The discussion centered on the question:
'Are the only innovations in social entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon?'
That discussion was to later form the theme for the first conference of the Africa Social Entrepreneurship Forum (held in the USA). The theme was:
'Are Anglo-Saxon cases the only examples of social entrepreneurship?'.
To some the question may appear to have been motivated by concerns with race. To me it raced a more important question:
Why is a concept that carries so much potential neglected in policy and research on a continent with the greatest need for solutions?
Contexts and Neglects?
One thing I learnt trying to get a grasp on the definitions of social entrepreneurship was the importance of the context in which social entrepreneurship emerges in informing definitions. In the USA social entrepreneurship has largely emerged in response to the funding challenges faced by nonprofit organisations. In Europe (UK and a few other countries) the response has been to shortcomings in service delivery leading to innovative arrangements for service delivery. The context has shaped the emphasis. The value has been recognised with governments crafting packages to support social entrepreneurship and social enterprise (The UK starting with the Blair Government, the USA under the Obama administration crafting a new support package).
On the continent with the greatest need where organisations face serious funding challenges and service delivery is poor and in need of innovative strategies, social entrepreneurship is not on the policy or research agendas. Contrast this with the USA and Europe. One would be hard pressed to identify a major business school in the USA or Europe that is not churning out MBAs or at a minimum, undergraduates with social entrepreneurship training. In Africa the reverse is true.
Accepting that social entrepreneurship is a new field of study, one is still left with the question about when Africa will get involved in ways other than being a recipient of the goodwill of outsiders. Thus, the question 'Are the only innovations in social entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon' puts the spotlight on neglect of investment in learning about social entrepreneurship in Africa. It is neglect by Africans. And, neglect by Africa's development partners and friends.
Before social entrepreneurship can feature in policy and teaching, its worth in Africa needs to be well understood. Such understanding calls for improving research, followed by teaching and further research. Outlets for quality research will bring social entrepreneurship to the attention of policy makers to inform both policy and practice. Without the deliberate prioritisation of social entrepreneurship research and teaching, Africa will celebrate fewer successes and these will stand little chance of informing policy and practice in development interventions.
What is needed?
In addition to the increasing level of social entrepreneurship practice, albeit, driven by 'Anglo-Saxon' innovation, investments must be made in African:
Investments in research, learning and documentation are costly. Similarly exchange platform. However, we can start on exchange platforms with the resources at our disposal. We can begin to share information and ideas online.
To get the process of sharing started, please post comments and suggestions on this blog. Suggested resource materials, case studies, reports, studies, etc. will be posted on a social entrepreneurship resources page on my organisation's web site http://www.ndas-africa.org/.
Let us get talking.
Sifiso
In 2009 I decided to do some more research on social entrepreneurship practice in Africa. The preliminary findings were surprising and disappointing - few publications, a number of small initiatives, few recognised large-scale homegrown initiatives, no clear government involvement, absence of academic institutions, limited debate and exchange of experiences.
A 2008 study by Brock and Ashoka's Global Academy for Social Enterprise confirmed the absence of serious academic engagement with social entrepreneurship. The study identified about 130 business schools and academies offering undergraduate and post-graduate training in social entrepreneurship. None of them were in Africa. Nearly 500 faculty were identified. Only four were in Africa. All of them in one country - South Africa. Did this indicate bias?
In 2005 when I first undertook research on social entrepreneurship, Ashoka was one of the few organisations that had consistently recognised, supported and honoured African social entrepreneurs. Not that I always agreed with them on some of their choices. Often I doubted the extent to which projects were innovative or could be scaled up or out. Given the history of Ashoka, I doubt they would have published a biased study. Brock has done considerable work on social entrepreneurship and would be unlikely to miss a serious academic programme on the subject.
Trawling the net yielded a few scattered recorded initiatives. In contrast, discussions with friends and colleagues suggested that social entrepreneurship is alive and well on the continent. I must however state here that part of getting a meaningful discussion has been to describe the practice of social entrepreneurship. The term is not readily recognised. To aid discussions, I have often used the definitions of Austin, Stevenson, and Wei-Skillern (2006) and Mair and Marti (2006).
Austin, Stevenson and Wei-Skillern define social entrepreneurship as:
'entrepreneurial activity with an embedded social purpose'.
Mair and Marti define it as:
"a process involving the innovative use and combination of resources to pursue opportunities to catalyze social change and/or address social needs'
Having compiled a good library - I am very proud of it! - of 140 research papers and articles - of which very few are about Africa or discuss the broader context of African social entrepreneurship, I am now, more than ever, convinced something is amiss.
Whose social entrepreneurship
My confirmation came when I can across a discussion started by Rod Schwartz on the discussion forums of Social Edge. The discussion centered on the question:
'Are the only innovations in social entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon?'
That discussion was to later form the theme for the first conference of the Africa Social Entrepreneurship Forum (held in the USA). The theme was:
'Are Anglo-Saxon cases the only examples of social entrepreneurship?'.
To some the question may appear to have been motivated by concerns with race. To me it raced a more important question:
Why is a concept that carries so much potential neglected in policy and research on a continent with the greatest need for solutions?
Contexts and Neglects?
One thing I learnt trying to get a grasp on the definitions of social entrepreneurship was the importance of the context in which social entrepreneurship emerges in informing definitions. In the USA social entrepreneurship has largely emerged in response to the funding challenges faced by nonprofit organisations. In Europe (UK and a few other countries) the response has been to shortcomings in service delivery leading to innovative arrangements for service delivery. The context has shaped the emphasis. The value has been recognised with governments crafting packages to support social entrepreneurship and social enterprise (The UK starting with the Blair Government, the USA under the Obama administration crafting a new support package).
On the continent with the greatest need where organisations face serious funding challenges and service delivery is poor and in need of innovative strategies, social entrepreneurship is not on the policy or research agendas. Contrast this with the USA and Europe. One would be hard pressed to identify a major business school in the USA or Europe that is not churning out MBAs or at a minimum, undergraduates with social entrepreneurship training. In Africa the reverse is true.
Accepting that social entrepreneurship is a new field of study, one is still left with the question about when Africa will get involved in ways other than being a recipient of the goodwill of outsiders. Thus, the question 'Are the only innovations in social entrepreneurship Anglo-Saxon' puts the spotlight on neglect of investment in learning about social entrepreneurship in Africa. It is neglect by Africans. And, neglect by Africa's development partners and friends.
Before social entrepreneurship can feature in policy and teaching, its worth in Africa needs to be well understood. Such understanding calls for improving research, followed by teaching and further research. Outlets for quality research will bring social entrepreneurship to the attention of policy makers to inform both policy and practice. Without the deliberate prioritisation of social entrepreneurship research and teaching, Africa will celebrate fewer successes and these will stand little chance of informing policy and practice in development interventions.
What is needed?
In addition to the increasing level of social entrepreneurship practice, albeit, driven by 'Anglo-Saxon' innovation, investments must be made in African:
- Research on social entrepreneurship
- Social entrepreneurship education
- Documentation of case studies, and
- Dialogues and exchange platforms for experiences and knowledge.
Investments in research, learning and documentation are costly. Similarly exchange platform. However, we can start on exchange platforms with the resources at our disposal. We can begin to share information and ideas online.
To get the process of sharing started, please post comments and suggestions on this blog. Suggested resource materials, case studies, reports, studies, etc. will be posted on a social entrepreneurship resources page on my organisation's web site http://www.ndas-africa.org/.
Let us get talking.
Sifiso
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