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Catalyzing Social Entrepreneurship in Africa: Roles for Western Universities, NGOs and Corporations
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This article reviews research on promoting social entrepreneurship and enterprise in Africa. It also presents brief case studies on how select Western universities, NGOs and corporations are partnering with African institutions to help train and launch social entrepreneurs, to open up sources of venture funding and mentoring and to fortify social entrepreneurship ecosystems. The case material highlights opportunities and challenges encountered in supporting social entrepreneurship in Africa and points to research and practical opportunities pertinent to African scholars, educators and practitioners.
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... While these three dimensions create social entrepreneurship, they also outline the definition of the concept. When we look at the definitions of the concept of social entrepreneurship, the expression of the value to be emphasized in general is "social value" (Austin, Stevenson & Wei-Skillern, 2006;Mirvis & Googins, 2018). This conceptual study is to highlight the concept of social value and to present the contributions of social entrepreneurship in this context. ...
... According to Mirvis and Googins (2018) sub-Saharan Africa has produced the largest number of social entrepreneurs globally, second only to Australia and the United States of America, but while there are many examples of SE in action on the African continent, little research has seen the light. The limited research produced on the continent may even have caused the collective perspective of "sub-Saharan African" SE and to that end, researchers from the west tend to overlook the diversity, extent, and depth of SE, assuming it is the same in every African country (Krige, 2019). ...
... The diversity and multi-dimensionality of SE in Africa are further visible in the varied support systems in different African countries. In Liberia for instance, government pays no attention to SE, while in SA, the government makes deliberate efforts to develop the social economy (Mirvis & Googins, 2018). In addition to borrowing constraints in developing countries, government tendencies to overregulate the formal sector, create further barriers to entrepreneurship, which social entrepreneurs overcome by refraining from formally registering and conducting their businesses (Karanda & Toledano, 2018). ...
This paper explains the concepts of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship and explores the difference and development of social entrepreneurship trends in the context of Turkey and Africa.
... However, the effective execution of environmental conservation initiatives mostly relies on the voluntary engagement and proactive collaboration of employees (Ones and Dilchert, 2012). Environmentally aware personnel can actively support environmental sustainability by engaging in intraorganizational innovation and establishing relationships with other stakeholders to participate in various activities (Mirvis and Googins, 2018). Environmental organizational citizenship behaviour refers to a voluntary behaviour related to the environment that has recently attracted notice. ...
This study seeks to ascertain the impact of green shared vision and environmental attitude on environmental organizational citizenship behaviour. The research aims to reveal how students' shared vision of environmental sustainability goals shapes their environmental organizational citizenship behaviors. In addition, understanding the role of these two variables in the development of environmentally friendly behaviors aims to form a basis for strategies to increase environmental awareness at individual and societal levels. The data were collected using an online survey. The study sample comprises 426 students that were selected from this group of people. As a result of the correlation analysis, a positive and significant association between green shared vision and environmental attitude. Additionally, a positive and significant relationship was observed between green shared vision and environmental organizational citizenship behaviour. Furthermore, a positive and significant relationship was found between environmental attitudes and environmental organizational citizenship behaviour. As a result of the regression analysis, there are significant impacts of green shared vision and environmental attitude on environmental organizational citizenship behaviour. The regression analysis revealed that the impact of environmental attitude on environmental organizational citizenship behaviour is more significant compared to that of green shared vision. This finding shows that students' attitudes towards the environment play an important role in encouraging environmentally friendly behaviors. In this case, it is important for universities that want to increase environmentally friendly behaviors to focus on strategies that will strengthen students' attitudes towards the environment. At the same time, the effect of green shared vision on environmentally friendly behaviors shows that creating a common vision focused on the environment in universities can contribute. These findings emphasize the importance of green shared vision and environmental attitudes in encouraging environmentally friendly behaviors.
... Finally, studies are also beginning to explore how actors outside the geographic boundaries of SEEs can influence their functioning. Mirvis and Googins (2018), for instance, studied SEEs in Africa and found that Western universities, corporations, and NGOs have partnered with African institutions to assist social entrepreneurs and strengthen the African SEE. ...
Abstract: An emerging stream of research focuses on the complex interface between social entrepreneurs and their local contexts. The main insight of this research is that social entrepreneurs are embedded in “social entrepreneurship ecosystems” (SEEs)—the interdependent actors and factors in local communities that enable social entrepreneurship. Although studies are beginning to address key questions about the characteristics and functioning of SEEs, the SEE literature remains unorganized with limited cross-fertilization among studies. As a result, a unified body of knowledge about the topic has been slow to emerge. To map and explore the literature, in this chapter we perform a scoping review of research on SEEs. By identifying and organizing the nascent research on SEEs, our review uncovers insights that enrich work at the intersection of social entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Continued research on SEEs is crucial for understanding how social entrepreneurs can leverage and contribute to their local communities.
... Beyond these geography-oriented challenges, generally, social enterprises face many challenges that emanate from their nature -being social mission oriented business organisations (Abramson & Billings, 2019;Battilana et al., 2015;Bojica & Martínez-Del-Río, 2023;Haigh et al., 2015;Santos et al., 2015). These challenges include among others: insufficient financial support or poor access to financing (Abedin et al., 2021;Abramson & Billings, 2019;Battilana & Lee, 2014;Davies et al., 2019;Kalkis et al., 2021); vagueness of the regulatory environment in most countries linked to a lack of understanding of the social enterprise phenomenon (Abedin et al., 2021;Abramson & Billings, 2019;Davies et al., 2019;Kalkis et al., 2021;Musinguzi et al., 2023aMusinguzi et al., , 2023cNavarrete Moreno & Agapitova, 2017a) including the country in which our study was conducted where there is no recognised legal form for social enterprises (e.g., Musinguzi et al., 2023c;Navarrete Moreno & Agapitova, 2017b;Tamale et al., 2020;Turyakira et al., 2021); difficulty marketing their products (Abramson & Billings, 2019;Davies et al., 2019;Kalkis et al., 2021;Prabhakar, 2023); human resource constraints (e.g., Diaz Gonzalez & Dentchev, 2021;Sharir & Lerner, 2006) including lack of professional management (Certo & Miller, 2008;Diaz Gonzalez & Dentchev, 2021;Mirvis & Googins, 2018). This lack of professional management is linked to the low capacity of social entrepreneurs including lack of adequate understanding of e.g., dealing with and/or approaching potential investors (Abramson & Billings, 2019;Davies et al., 2019;Kalkis et al., 2021). ...
In developing countries the most marginalised and disadvantaged people are in rural, remote and regional areas and social enterprises in these areas-rural social enterprises (RSEs)-have been identified as key development actors in this context. However, their impacts are rarely rigorously measured. Our study fills this gap by measuring an RSE's social impact in a developing country. A smallholder farmers' survey (n = 1021) is utilised in a propensity score-based method which allowed us to generate counterfactual and estimate outcomes between members and non-members of an RSE. This method was complemented by a stakeholder focus group discussion. Predictors of participation and social impacts of the RSE are identified besides an evaluation of its interventions. Results generate implications for social enterprise practitioners, supporters and policymakers interested in applying RSEs as local and regional development actors as well as researchers involved in social impact measurement.
Social entrepreneurship is seen as a vehicle to drive development and mitigate social problems. In sub-Saharan Africa, support and training centers have emerged, often funded by government and development agencies, in order to assist social entrepreneurship ventures. However, it is unclear whether these programs are sufficiently adapted to the local context to provide appropriate support. This paper explores contextualization of social entrepreneurship training programs in three countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Through content analysis, surveys, and interviews with training centers in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, we investigate how these programs equip entrepreneurs to tackle local social problems. We find that their methods, approach, and content clearly illustrate contextualization in response to socio-economic and entrepreneurial ecosystem dynamics. Resource scarcity and social embeddedness theories help explain our findings. We conclude that the primary drivers of contextualization in these programs in these countries are similar: differences in actors, resources, and bottom lines. By explaining how contextualization manifests itself and how it occurs in these developing countries, our findings can improve the implementation of such programs and help overcome the barriers that context can create.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the effective economic engines of most developing countries. Unfortunately, due to resource constraints, the failure rate of SMEs is relatively high, prompting scholars and practitioners to explore potential solutions. Here, the collaboration between SMEs and non-government organizations (NGOs), supported and guided by governments , can play a strategic role in overcoming resource constraints and promoting sustainable growth. Islamic NGOs can provide Sharia-based financial support, capacity building, and mentorship to SMEs, especially those owned by Muslim entrepreneurs. Therefore, the goal of this study is to establish a conceptual framework for strategic collaboration between SMEs, conventional NGOs, Islamic NGOs, and governments, with the aim of promoting sustainable growth. A rigorous PICO-based SLR identified 112 relevant articles. In-depth analysis using thematic and content approaches, alongside the ADO framework, ensured a robust foundation for the proposed conceptual model. The implementation of methodical procedures further enhanced the rigor of the analysis, ensuring both reliability and validity. The study has devised a strategic collaboration paradigm for the sustainable growth of SMEs, considering the functions of both conventional and Islamic NGOs. This paradigm encompasses innovative financial options, technology transfer, and innovation, value sharing in the supply chain, capacity building and skill development, as well as stakeholder engagement. The results also highlight how important it is for government regulations and policies to be effective from a Helix viewpoint in order to guarantee the long-term success of SMEs. Additionally, the obtained model has the potential to advance SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) by fostering cross-sector collaborations among SMEs and other important stakeholders.
In this chapter, we propose an engineering education for social enterprise programme for post-conflict Rwanda. The programme consists of four facets including the critique and deconstruction of current ways of teaching engineering, the cognitive conflict resulting from either the ‘assimilation’ of new experiences into what students already know or the ‘accommodation’ of a new experience by altering an existing schema, the creation of alternative solutions as a result of the critique undertaken and cognitive conflict experienced, and the culturally responsive service-learning pedagogy for delivering the programme. The latter would help engineering students to develop entrepreneurial skills as they learn, and it is expected they would use those skills to create their own businesses and become self-employed upon graduation. This model programme is timely given the fact that current unjust engineering education in Rwanda, modelled on and ‘benchmarked’ against existing programmes in the Global North, has failed to address the wicked problems of poverty and underdevelopment that were aggravated by war and genocide in the country. We hope our model can address the economic underdevelopment and social injustices brought about by Western engineering in other post-conflict and developing countries.
L’objectif de ce chapitre est d’analyser l’entrepreneuriat
féminin dans les discours et dans les pratiques récentes en faveur
de l’émergence en Afrique. Il s’agira dans un premier temps de retracer les
origines du discours des « développeurs » qui fait aujourd’hui de l’entrepreneuriat
féminin un des moteurs de l’émergence africaine. Dans un second
temps, l’entrepreneuriat féminin sera analysé à travers sa matérialisation
dans les plans d’émergence et les programmes mis en oeuvre, avec l’appui
des partenaires internationaux, dans certains pays de l’Afrique francophone.
Les études empiriques existantes sur l’entrepreneuriat féminin seront mobilisées
pour contraster les discours et les ambitions politiques et programmatiques
avec les réalités du phénomène entrepreneurial sur le terrain. Enfin,
en partant de la notion d’entrepreneuriat social, l’analyse s’intéressera à un
discours alternatif sur la manière dont l’entrepreneuriat social féminin peut
contribuer à aller au-delà d’une « émergence africaine » pour soutenir une
« émergence à l’africaine ».
Social Entrepreneurship' is a term that has come to be applied to the activities of grass-roots activists, NGOs, policy makers, international institutions, and corporations, amongst others, which address a range of social issues in innovative and creative ways. Themed around the emerging agendas for developing new, sustainable models of social sector excellence and systemic impact, Social Entrepreneurship offers, for the first time, a wide-ranging, internationally-focused selection of cutting-edge work from leading academics, policy makers, and practitioners. Together they seek to clarify some of the ambiguity around this term, describe a range of social entrepreneurship projects, and establish a clear set of frameworks with which to understand it. Included in the volume are contributions from Muhammad Yunus, the father of microfinance, Geoff Mulgan, former head of the British prime minister's policy unit, and Bill Drayton, founder of the Ashoka network of social entrepreneurs. Jeff Skoll, founder of the Skoll Foundation, and first president of eBay, provides a preface.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of corporate social responsibility and its development in Africa. It provides in-depth studies on 11 sub-Saharan countries, demonstrating that corporate social responsibility is forming and going through different stages of metamorphosis in the continent. Though corporate and individual attitudes towards sustainability in Africa still leave a lot to be desired, this book showcases how things are rapidly changing for the better in this regard. It demonstrates and provides evidence for the fact that corporate social responsibility contributes significantly to the way sub-Saharan African economies are being transformed, with service sectors expanding, commercial activities diversifying and industrial bases growing through the initiatives of small, medium and large organizations and innovators supported by widespread higher-education program rollouts. The book highlights how progressive and wide-ranging CSR approaches have emerged, and how much they differ from the obsolete approaches of the past, which promulgated negative stereotypes, marginalized communities and positioned them as victims or beneficiaries of development.
While executives are keen to harness organizational knowledge and improve business performance, the topic of how academics can produce rigorous and relevant theory in working relationships with practitioners is a much contested topic. Many aspects of this knowledge co-creation can create tensions, and the ways in which research is conducted and published can affect practitioner acceptance, as well as its consequent uptake and use in different contexts. Expertly compiled by Jean Bartunek and Jane McKenzie, with contributions from global thinkers in the field, this book offers a concise and up-to-date review of the essential analysis and action underlying scholarly engagement with the world of business. It discusses the sorts of capabilities academics need to collaborate effectively with practitioners and illustrates good practice through international case studies drawn from acknowledged centres of excellence. These show how to negotiate different constituencies with different priorities, values, and practices to work together to produce research of rigor and relevance. It will be a key reference and resource for all researchers who are engaged with practitioners, and an invaluable tool for training academics to develop research with impact. © 2018 selection and editorial matter, Jean M. Bartunek & Jane McKenzie. All rights reserved.
'Shaping Social Enterprise' offers the first tested framework that helps identify institutional influences affecting social enterprise. For well over a decade, scholars and practitioners have known that social enterprise looks different in different contexts but few have attempted to understand why. Kerlin's work in this area is the first to consider the influence of large institutions such as government, economy, civil society, and culture on the development of social enterprise. This book provides an in-depth assessment of Kerlin's theoretically-based framework for understanding these institutional and other influences by means of quantitative analysis as well as qualitative critiques from eight countries that help validate and refine it. The concluding chapter offers a revision of the framework based on the critiques. New features include more attention to culture and micro- and meso-level forces as well as the introduction of optional framework components that address rarely occurring country situations. Two new social enterprise country models are also added and new applications of the framework are detailed
