Social Entrepreneurship in South Africa

Saturday was the day of the seminar presentations. All the groups were very excited about presenting their results and have been very well prepared. Eight judges joint the Jury: Prof. Volkmann, Prof. Goldwin, Varkey George, Dr. Bischoff, Sabine, Judith and from Etafeni Patrick and Erikah. Furthermore, some employees and Val Berry, from the Board of Trustees of Etafeni joint us to listen to the students’ results. All groups presented innovative solutions for income generation and did a very good job. Moreover, Nina and Felix presented their preliminary results about their Bachelor-/ Masterthesis. Both have conducted several interviews with social entrepreneus during the last three weeks. The three week seminar ended with a Gala dinner in the evening. Both, students and employees of Etafeni, celebrated the end of an inspiring time. The most profit generating projects were awarded with 10,000 ZAR (Women income Generation) and 5,000 ZAR (Agriculture). This money can b...

Today all the students had a day off and were able to work on their presentations, while Prof. Volkmann, Dr. Kathrin Bischoff, Varkey George and Sabine Vorpahl visited the university in Stellenbosch. They met the director of the University Dr. Robert Kotze and Prof. Arnold Smit. They found out similarities of the reasearch fields entrepreneurship, social entreprises and sustainablility management. We are very happy that we were able to share insights with each other. Dr. Kathrin Bischoff, Prof. Volkmann, Dr. Kotzé and Varkey George Meeting with Prof. Arnold Smit Vivien: "Today we worked all day on our presentation.  We put our individual slides together and practiced our presentation.  We are very excited about tomorrow and hope that the presentation will be successfull and that we will win the prize!" For dinner some of the group went to Hommage, one of our favourite restaurants during our time here. 

Thursday was the last lecture day at Etafeni. The students started with the presentation preparations and also said goodbye to some of the staff members, to which we grew close. It was also the last day with the pre school children, that is why the group gave some candy to them. In the afternoon we had our last lecture by Dr. Johann Graaff about South Africa's ancient archeological past. He showed us a different view on history interpretation. Felix: "The last three weeks at Etafeni were intense and extremely interesting. The positive attitude of the whole team of Etafeni towards all difficulties is inspiring. I have learned a lot in the last week's and I'm grateful to have been welcomed so well."

On Wednesday the groups started again with a presentation preparation session. In the afternoon Aude Juglard from Igalelo, an accelerator programme for social entreprises in Cape Town, visited us. She shared her valuable insights with us about the lesson she had learned in the field of impact measurement in the research about social entrepreneurship. In the afternoon most of the group went to another township called Khayelitsha. We were invited to visit a kindergarten called: Nosizwe education centre. Cindy told us about her mother who founded this centre in 1990. Now they look after 150 children, which are between 0 and 6 years old. The Kusasalethu group prepared a dinner for us and we enjoyed delicious Chakalaka, a traditional South African Meal. Finally, we went to a viewpoint with the Kusasalethu Group and they told us more about the township Khayelitsha. The name is Xhosa for Our New Home. It is reputed to be the largest and fastest growing to...

This tuesday started with a Case Study Lecture by Prof. Volkmann. We discussed the case of Ophra Winfrey's 40 Mio. US$ investment in a luxury school for disadvantaged black girls in South Africa and which other possibilities the students could imagine to help girls in the townships. Furthermore, a workshop with all the programme managers and members of the administration were conducted. Dr. Kathrin Bischoff, Sabine and Judith met most of the members during the last week to ask them about their opinion concernning the organizational structure and how it could be improved. Today first suggestions were presented and discussed. Patrick is the director of Etafeni: "I am really happy that the students are here with us. There is a really positive vibe on the side. The programme manager are really enjoying the interaction with the students. And there are already a lot of good ideas that are being explored by the students. For example, the Early Childhood Development group me...

The third week started with an intensive working day for all of the groups. Because the final presentations are on saturday they want to achieve as much as possible until then. Prof. Volkmann also arrived today at Etafeni and were able to get to know the facilites, the programmes and the project groups. Prof. Volkmann: "I am impressed by the dedication and creativity of the students in their problem solving skills for the challenges in the township. After all, it is important to find economically viable concepts for the community and, in particular, for women, and the students' approaches to support with marketing and financing are very valuable. The students group culture seems to be inspiring and motivating in their way of working and that's very positive. " Another positive message arrived today. With the orders of the Women Wellness and Income Generation Programme we have ordered products in the sum of the half year revenue. Thanks to all the cl...