This pioneering conference is the key that will show you how to ensure the effective alignment of your business objectives with your CSR initiatives, enhancing your corporate image and improving employee morale.
Organisations have been called to task by Government to make a contribution to Social Economic Development. Hear from Keynote Speaker Professor Mervyn King on the King 2 Report on Corporate Governance as a component of CSR. Acquire the most topical, relevant, unbiased and comprehensive information on CSR from the most forward thinking CSR experts in South Africa, while utilising this unique opportunity to explore viable and ergonomic solutions to your individual concerns.
For a full agenda visit the following link:
http://www.frontfoot.co.za/mailers/csr2008/agenda.html
I hope to see you there and engage in discussing the exciting progress in the field of CSR. Maybe some of my questions will be answered and many new ones will be formed.
Monday, 24 November 2008
Tuesday, 02 September 2008
OK, OK I have been quiet for a while.........
What can I say...! Well first, apologies for having been so scarce for a few months on the blog. However, it is very exciting times. Particularly as we try to gain an understanding of the CSR landscape in South Africa. One area I have been reviewing with growing enthusiasm is the fairtrade concept. Rather new to me, but WOW(!) incredible. The concept has been around for 40 years.
Secondly.... have a look at the South African fairtrade website on the link below. I would not be able to do justice to the work being done in trying to explain it here. Visit their website on : http://www.fairtrade.org.za/
Any way another road to be travelled in gaining a greater understanding of the Social Development arena:
Secondly.... have a look at the South African fairtrade website on the link below. I would not be able to do justice to the work being done in trying to explain it here. Visit their website on : http://www.fairtrade.org.za/
Any way another road to be travelled in gaining a greater understanding of the Social Development arena:
- What do you think about the concept?
- Did you know about it?
Monday, 05 May 2008
Here's what it is all about!!
I was recently truly humbled and had the immense privilege of meeting an incredible man Mario Van Niekerk several weeks ago. He is the Founder of Great Commission United http://www.gcu.org.za/
Here is a young man supported by his wife Michelle who gives unselfishly of himself not only to the community where he lives, but other communities in Cape Town. He incredibly arranges to supply five thousand meals a month. I attended a church service with him and his family in Freedom Park. I met them at their home in Heideveld as they were loading their car with a huge cooking pot. I later witnessed that this was the meal served to all the people, mostly kids after the service. For many of those people it may have been the only meal they had that day. Talk about making you give thanks for what you have. It was an incredible morning spent with part of the community of Freedom Park. Against the abject poverty within which they live every day of their lives, there is a time of worship and a few hours of forgetting about the situation they find themselves in.
The major component of GCU is the soccer academy, as Mario firmly believes that this fun, teamwork-building sport is the way to bring children into his program and keep them coming. He runs groups of all ages (under age 9, under age 11, under age 13, under age 15, under age 17) along with two senior teams. There are currently 232 boys in the program. The girls are pushing to get their own teams going.
However, encouraging good sportsmanship is just the beginning. To be a member of the soccer team the boys must also take part in other GCU programs, such as after school tutoring and life skills development.
Heideveld is located 15km outside of Cape Town in the Cape Flats region. Initially a community that was zoned for coloureds during the Apartheid era via the ‘Group Areas Act’, Heideveld still faces tremendous social issues that affect it’s inhabitants on a daily basis. Vast unemployment and high school drop out rates, as well as rampant drug and alcohol abuse all contribute to the impoverished nature of the area. However, one of the most debilitating problems affecting Heideveld is the gang activity. Out of the 60,000 residents, approximately 5,000 (1 in every 12) people in Heideveld are involved with gangs.
Great Commission United was founded to help alleviate—and one day, hopefully eradicate--these issues. Mario is all too familiar with the problems plaguing his own birthplace. In his adolescent and young adult years, Mario was a member of one of the largest gangs in the Cape Flats.
It wasn’t until Mario became a father, husband and a born-again Christian in 2000 that he fully understood that this criminal life was leading him nowhere. He also realized that if there were no social programmes directed specifically towards the youth in his community, every succeeding generation (including his own children) would forever live in this devastating cycle of oppression and crime.
That realization is what sparked the creation of Great Commission United in 2001.
Please seriously consider this man and the work he does through GCU. If you would like to contribute through your time in coaching, teaching or pledging your financial support etc, please contact Mario on +27 (0) 73 474 7769.
Here is a young man supported by his wife Michelle who gives unselfishly of himself not only to the community where he lives, but other communities in Cape Town. He incredibly arranges to supply five thousand meals a month. I attended a church service with him and his family in Freedom Park. I met them at their home in Heideveld as they were loading their car with a huge cooking pot. I later witnessed that this was the meal served to all the people, mostly kids after the service. For many of those people it may have been the only meal they had that day. Talk about making you give thanks for what you have. It was an incredible morning spent with part of the community of Freedom Park. Against the abject poverty within which they live every day of their lives, there is a time of worship and a few hours of forgetting about the situation they find themselves in.
The major component of GCU is the soccer academy, as Mario firmly believes that this fun, teamwork-building sport is the way to bring children into his program and keep them coming. He runs groups of all ages (under age 9, under age 11, under age 13, under age 15, under age 17) along with two senior teams. There are currently 232 boys in the program. The girls are pushing to get their own teams going.
However, encouraging good sportsmanship is just the beginning. To be a member of the soccer team the boys must also take part in other GCU programs, such as after school tutoring and life skills development.
Heideveld is located 15km outside of Cape Town in the Cape Flats region. Initially a community that was zoned for coloureds during the Apartheid era via the ‘Group Areas Act’, Heideveld still faces tremendous social issues that affect it’s inhabitants on a daily basis. Vast unemployment and high school drop out rates, as well as rampant drug and alcohol abuse all contribute to the impoverished nature of the area. However, one of the most debilitating problems affecting Heideveld is the gang activity. Out of the 60,000 residents, approximately 5,000 (1 in every 12) people in Heideveld are involved with gangs.
Great Commission United was founded to help alleviate—and one day, hopefully eradicate--these issues. Mario is all too familiar with the problems plaguing his own birthplace. In his adolescent and young adult years, Mario was a member of one of the largest gangs in the Cape Flats.
It wasn’t until Mario became a father, husband and a born-again Christian in 2000 that he fully understood that this criminal life was leading him nowhere. He also realized that if there were no social programmes directed specifically towards the youth in his community, every succeeding generation (including his own children) would forever live in this devastating cycle of oppression and crime.
That realization is what sparked the creation of Great Commission United in 2001.
Please seriously consider this man and the work he does through GCU. If you would like to contribute through your time in coaching, teaching or pledging your financial support etc, please contact Mario on +27 (0) 73 474 7769.
Tuesday, 01 April 2008
A sense of URGENCY!!
I returned on Sunday 30th March from attending the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Click here to view live video coverage and blogging from the 2008 Skoll World Forum
I cannot begin to do justice to the event. Suffice it to say that it has strengthened my passion, dedication and drive to create the awareness in South Africa of this “phenomena” called Social Entrepreneurship. The picture below is ‘borrowed’ from the Berkley Bottom Line team: Mike Lee, Roxanne Miller, & Omar Garriott. (I am sure they won’t mind me taking the liberty to showcase their work!!).
I cannot begin to do justice to the event. Suffice it to say that it has strengthened my passion, dedication and drive to create the awareness in South Africa of this “phenomena” called Social Entrepreneurship. The picture below is ‘borrowed’ from the Berkley Bottom Line team: Mike Lee, Roxanne Miller, & Omar Garriott. (I am sure they won’t mind me taking the liberty to showcase their work!!).
This was a wonderful session on the first morning, where we were privileged to interact with the MBA students. Sitting to my left is a fellow South African, Bram Davies who is doing his PhD on Social Entrepreneurship back in South Africa.
To get a much better feel for Mike, Roxanne and Omars views about the Forum, click on the following link Berkeley Bottom Line
- Is this what we need to ‘establish’ in South Africa?
- Is there a loose forum already exisiting?
- Are we talking to each other?
I look forward to your comments.
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Social Venture Capital and South Africa
I started this blog almost one year ago to open up the dialogue around social enterprise (SE’s) and social entrepreneurs (SocE’s). I have posted a lot of information just to create a foundation around which to open up the discussion. Maybe too much!!
My interaction over this time with individuals, corporates, nonprofits and government at all levels has indicated a immense willingness to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon called Social Venture Capital and how to leverage it. We should be able to obtain a four to one social return on investment.
There are people from all walks of life, and such varied backgrounds working tirelessly to make a difference in their communities. Many of them working on handouts and shoestring budgets, but making huge inroads to addressing social issues in their areas. There are many nonprofits contributing immensely to the sectors they are working in. And yet there are others with funding but no resource and capacity to deliver.
Corporate Social Investment is on the increase, triple bottom line reporting in Annual Reports is on the increase. The Sector Charters have a strong CSR component. CSI practitioners are a growing profession.
The funds exist, the social enterprise and social entrepreneurs exist, the passions exist, a willingness to make a difference exist. Why then is there such a disconnect between the funds, the SE’s and SocE’s and delivery on the ground? What’s wrong? How do we identify that, and work to unlock the funds, resources, and capacity. What’s right and how do we scale and grow that? What is the vision of an empowered ‘third sector’?
It’s not like we don’t have the social issues that need to be addressed? Hello!!!! Is there anybody out there?
My interaction over this time with individuals, corporates, nonprofits and government at all levels has indicated a immense willingness to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon called Social Venture Capital and how to leverage it. We should be able to obtain a four to one social return on investment.
There are people from all walks of life, and such varied backgrounds working tirelessly to make a difference in their communities. Many of them working on handouts and shoestring budgets, but making huge inroads to addressing social issues in their areas. There are many nonprofits contributing immensely to the sectors they are working in. And yet there are others with funding but no resource and capacity to deliver.
Corporate Social Investment is on the increase, triple bottom line reporting in Annual Reports is on the increase. The Sector Charters have a strong CSR component. CSI practitioners are a growing profession.
The funds exist, the social enterprise and social entrepreneurs exist, the passions exist, a willingness to make a difference exist. Why then is there such a disconnect between the funds, the SE’s and SocE’s and delivery on the ground? What’s wrong? How do we identify that, and work to unlock the funds, resources, and capacity. What’s right and how do we scale and grow that? What is the vision of an empowered ‘third sector’?
It’s not like we don’t have the social issues that need to be addressed? Hello!!!! Is there anybody out there?
Thursday, 03 January 2008
2008 Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship
March 26-28, 2008 Saïd Business School, Oxford University, England
The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is an international event attracting about 750 delegates from more than 35 countries. Held annually at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, the Forum convenes social entrepreneurs, thought leaders, policy makers, corporate representatives, financiers, philanthropists and students for three days of plenaries, panel discussions, workshops and academic presentations. With a focus on learning, problem solving and community building, the format and relatively small size allow rich exchange and engagement between delegates and speakers.
Attendees to the Forum are also invited to the inspiring Skoll Awards Ceremony, which honors individual social entrepreneurs from all over the world who are creating positive, systemic change in critical issue areas, including the environment, health, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity.
The Forum is a coproduction of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and the Skoll Foundation, Palo Alto, California. Both organizations share a commitment to expanding and supporting the field of social entrepreneurship.
For information about the 2008 Skoll World Forum, click here.
The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship is an international event attracting about 750 delegates from more than 35 countries. Held annually at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, the Forum convenes social entrepreneurs, thought leaders, policy makers, corporate representatives, financiers, philanthropists and students for three days of plenaries, panel discussions, workshops and academic presentations. With a focus on learning, problem solving and community building, the format and relatively small size allow rich exchange and engagement between delegates and speakers.
Attendees to the Forum are also invited to the inspiring Skoll Awards Ceremony, which honors individual social entrepreneurs from all over the world who are creating positive, systemic change in critical issue areas, including the environment, health, peace and security, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity.
The Forum is a coproduction of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and the Skoll Foundation, Palo Alto, California. Both organizations share a commitment to expanding and supporting the field of social entrepreneurship.
For information about the 2008 Skoll World Forum, click here.
- How do we create the Africa Forum on Social Entrepreneurship?
- Is that something we need to do in South Africa first?
- What is our current Social Entrepreneurship landscape like?
- Do we understand the changing social ecology?
What are your thoughts and comments?
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