Using business to address social issues in South Africa

The past nine months has been a journey in to the unknown. It started with reading the book by Muhammad Yunus – Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism.

This provided the inspiration to study the state of poverty in South Africa and how organisations currently addressing social issues are operating and whether they are doing this in a manner that is similar to Yunus’ vision.

My research has uncovered that there are many organisations in the country putting a huge amount of energy and passion into addressing social causes. But as highlighted by Gbenga Sesan, most are suffering from the same challenge; which is that of funding. I was fortunate to correspond with a number of organisations that took part in the survey, and most had the same story to tell, which is that they are struggling to stay afloat due to the unpredictable nature of relying on donations and grants to survive.

I have bought into Yunus’ vision and believe it is the future of addressing social issues, not just in South Africa, but throughout the world.

I am not currently involved in addressing social issues in any capacity and my day job is very much in the commercial sector. I am uncertain where this research will take me next, but am hopeful that in the not too distant future I will be able to put these concepts to the test. I also hope this dissertation will prove useful for those reading it and that is will inspire further research and development in a sector that has so much potential.



Click here to read the dissertation



Please note that this dissertation is currently under peer review at Henley Business School.


Mike.