Enterprise Development
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" alt="Seek social returns on enterprise development investments" />
Seek social returns on enterprise development investments
29 August 2011
The focus on enterprise development (ED) is given impetus by the fact that companies can earn points on their BBBEE scorecard by supporting such initiatives. But, says Jane Woodhouse, Business Development Manager at Tshikululu Social Investments, becoming involved in ED for the right reasons is more important than the pure financial contribution. -
" alt="Creating jobs in South Africa by learning from America" />
Creating jobs in South Africa by learning from America
3 August 2011
If we are to overcome the unemployment crisis, we will have to move intelligently and together; business and government working proactively and creatively.
Written by Yvonne Pennington, CSI practitioner at Tshikululu Social Investments.
In an article which appeared in Time magazine on 30 May 2011, the journalist Fareed Zakaria welcomed an end to the financial crisis, but introduced an important caveat: in the United States, the rebound has come at the expense of jobs. Though the U.S. gross domestic product has returned to where it was in 2007, it has reached this point with seven million fewer workers.
South Africa is facing an employment crisis too. A quarter of South Africans were reported as unemployed in the first quarter of 2011; a figure which does not include those who are not working but who are actively seeking work. This places us 174th out of 200 countries ranked in the CIA World Factbook. President Jacob Zuma, in his State of the Nation address in February this year, recognised the crisis, declaring 2011 a year of job creation.
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" alt="Avoiding a “Tunisia Day” in CSI" />
Avoiding a “Tunisia Day” in CSI
9 March 2011
Donors and their partners in development should build mutually-beneficial entrepreneurship models wherever possible and relevant.
Written by Vumisa Mayisela, client relationship manager at Tshikululu Social Investments.
Businessman and sometime political analyst Moeletsi Mbeki has caused waves by warning that South Africa could see a “œTunisia Day” in 2015 or 2020.
He argues that current social models and BEE perpetuate a culture of non-entrepreneurship and entitlement – black people who want to go into business believe that rather than building enterprises from the ground up, they should acquire assets for free, and that somebody is there to make them rich.
There are parallels in how corporate social investment (CSI) is often implemented.
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" alt="More youths like this are needed in South Africa" />
More youths like this are needed in South Africa
22 November 2010
Students in Free Enterprise and the thousands of other young South African entrepreneurs represent the kind of youth that is needed to take this country forward.
Written by Vivian Atud, an economist with the Free Market Foundation who specialises in socio-economic issues.
Only South Africa’s young professionals can take this country in a new direction. Young people whose minds are not polluted with all this anti-colonial and anti-apartheid rhetoric and garbage. Those who are capable of clear thinking, can see things with acute clarity, and can understand that the leadership must be held accountable for the mess in South Africa.
