CSIR: Rural Research Project

Ivan Andersen picked up this link:

CSIR in project to enable rural research - 'The CSIR is participating in an international research consortium aimed at enabling people in rural areas to take part in research and the development of technology that could effect them.

'Researchers from the CSIR Built Environment and the Meraka Institute, a national research centre managed by the CSIR, are involved in the project, which is funded by the European Union's (EU) Framework Programme 6 (FP6).

'The Collaboration@Rural: a Collaborative Platform for Working and Living in Rural Areas project, or C@R for short, will last three years and provides a platform for research and technology development institutions to collaborate with rural communities in developing effective methodologies implementing rural living labs in rural economies.'

FLOOD Up vs. Trickle Down

Trevor writes:

Was wondering what would happen if 100% of donor funds started in the hands of the target beneficiary... instead of trickling down through any number of project managers, consultants and admin cost structures to hardly benefit the target beneficiary at all... how would that change the Social Entrepreneurial game? Is it counter-intuitive?

Here are some links to aid further thought around this off-the-wall idea:

1. Flood Up, Not Trickle Down! - some extracts:
Extensive research has shown that increasing wages actually benefits the economy and helps businesses. The idea harkens back to economist John Maynard Keynes who first wrote about the downward spiral known as “the paradox of thrift.”

Keynes and others understood the “the circular flow of money” or “multiplier effect” of new money in an economy: If workers are paid more money, they will spend it. The business that a worker spends it with will spend it with someone else who will spend it with someone else, and so on. This expansion continues until it comes back several-fold not only to the original person but to the whole economy.

2. Binary Economicsin a Nutshell

3. Social Business Entrepreneurs Are the Solution - Muhammad Yunus - Grameen Bank

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - http://www.innercircleforum.com/
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Financial Diaries Studies - EXCELLENT

Trevor writes:

See www.financialdiaries.com :

The government and financial industry in South Africa are increasingly aware of the need to provide financial services to poor households, but a lack of understanding of the financial needs of the poor makes this task a difficult one. The Financial Diaries study addresses this knowledge gap by examining financial management in rural and urban households in South Africa.

The Financial Diaries project is a year-long household survey that examines financial management in poor households. Fortnightly interviews were conducted in three different areas in South Africa: Langa in Cape Town, Diepsloot in Johannesburg and Lugangeni, a rural village in the Eastern Cape.

Please see our Focus Notes on the Key Findings page, which address a number of topics such as indebtedness, medical spending and savings. Detailed individual household profiles can be found on the Household Profiles page. The search function allows the viewer to segment households by area, dwelling type, income and net worth.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - http://www.innercircleforum.com/
trevor@innercircleforum.com

It's Back To The SOCIAL Work

Trevor writes:

After the sadness of Vuyo's passing, it's back to the SOCIAL work for this blog... I particularly like the first impression given by the online collateral of the Triple Trust Organisation... don't know too much about them but if WE can add Governance and Accountability to this kind of presentation... who, as a donor, would fail to be impressed?

1. The Triple Trust Organisation (TTO) is a South African not-for-profit organisation committed to the alleviation of poverty in South Africa through making markets work for the poor.

TTO acts as a market development facilitator, and designs and manages projects that will enable poor communities to meaningfully participate in markets.

Also see South African Institute for Entrepreneurship

2. PDF - Excellent production of a Triple Trust Annual Report - 2004/2005

3. PDF - SEEP Network Market Assessment - www.seepnetwork.org/ - document makes this statement:

Box 2. Focus Group Discussions in the Retail Grocery Market —

Triple Trust Organisation in South Africa Triple Trust Organisation (TTO) carried out market research to design a project targeting spaza shops—tiny, home-based grocery stores — and their customers in poor urban areas of Cape Town, South Africa. As part of the research, TTO conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) with spaza shop owners to better understand issues related to stock, supply chain links, and business service use and future interest. TTO also conducted FGDs with customers of spaza shops to learn what spaza shops could do to capture a greater share of their grocery budgets. The information helped TTO design interventions to facilitate links among market players and improve the supply chain in the spaza shop market.

4. UCT low-cost housing concept wins award - A low-cost housing concept developed by UCT's Department of Civil Engineering and a partner, Triple Trust, won an award for the most innovative product at the recent Design for Living Exhibition in Cape Town.

5. Strategy & Tactics - Locally, the Cape Town office assessed spaza shop market potential for the Triple Trust Organisation; worked on a recovery strategy for the EU-funded Microproject Trust Programme in the Eastern Cape; assessed citizen satisfaction in the Departments of Education, Health, Housing and Social Development for the Public Services Commission; and also completed several studies for the Department of Labour.

6. See www.zenkaya.com/

7. See http://www.kwikspace.co.za/ - Modular Buildings

8. See Prefabricated Building Solutions

9. http://www.moladi.com/building_system_news.htm

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - http://www.innercircleforum.com/
trevor@innercircleforum.com

In Memory Of VUYO Zwane

Trevor writes:

It's been a particularly trying time in the last 10 days amongst those I am connected to, what with the needless killing of John Broome's elderly mother in an attack in their Boksburg home, the loss of Mirriam & Tito Zwane's son - Vuyo Zwane - in a tragic crash on Saturday morning, and the senseless killing of good friend Gary Joubert's son - Marc Joubert - in a Durban restaurant robbery on Saturday night.

It is so easy to have one's spirit crushed with this huge load of tragedy and pain affecting those so close to one, however yesterday my spirits were lifted sky-high at the incredibly moving memorial service for Vuyo Zwane at the Sacred Heart College in Observatory.

I have such deep admiration and respect for the humility and strength shown by the entire Zwane family at this deeply sad time for their family. My heart, as a father, went out to Tito as he spoke tenderly of arriving at the scene of the accident to witness every parent's nightmare unfolding in front of him.

Both Mirriam and Tito blew me away with their courage and smiling faces of thanks and hugs for everyone attending the refreshments hall at the end of the memorial.

I did not have the pleasure of meeting Vuyo (my being there to essentially to share support for Mirriam), but by the end of the service it was clear that this young man was a hugely influential cog in an incredible circle of family and friends.

I felt massively privileged to be able to share this insight into the amazing quality of people in Vuyo's life, and left thinking that there were people in that hall who could well make a big difference in society in memory of their close friend, son and brother.

I am hugely blessed to know someone like Mirriam Zwane - and to meet Tito Zwane - who are clearly at the influential hub of an amazing social network of family and friends. These are fine, fine people!

Rest in peace, Vuyo, I didn't know you... but you have left a clear and lasting impression in the manner that you lived your short life and so positively affected those around you. God bless you and your family & friends.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

simplify, Simplify, SIMPLIFY ..1 ..2 ..3

Trevor writes:

From this post - MAD 7. It Only Takes 'HALF-A-DOZEN' Things! (extract below) - I am reminded that it is all to easy to fall into the trap of adding unnecessary complexity to ideas, projects, strategies, et al, that should be as simple as ...1 ..2 ..3

Too many people look to make the simple things in life too complex to understand.

Yes, most often it takes only a few things... 1, 2, or 3 things... just a 'half-a-dozen' things to ensure success in most projects.

I am resolving to simplify every idea, project, strategy I have into a 'simple as ..1 ..2 ..3' graphic presentation.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - www.innercircleforum.com
trevor@innercircleforum.com

South Africa: A Nation Of GIVERS

Trevor writes:

Thanks to Malcolm Boyd for alerting us to this document:

Everatt, David & Solanki, Geetesh (2005) A Nation of Givers: Social Giving Among South Africans . PDF

A key finding:

As a nationally representative sample, we can extrapolate these findings to the population as a whole. South African citizens mobilise almost R930m in an average month for development and anti-poverty work.

Found these links to support above and/or open interesting contact links:

1. SANGONet - portal of the Southern African NGO Network

2. Strategy & Tactics - To transform the lives of people living in poverty in Africa. Monitoring is an integral part of performance evaluation, establishing in an ongoing manner how projects are being implemented. S&T has been involved in the design and/or implementation of monitoring systems for key government anti-poverty programmes. Our clients include government, NGOs, international donor agencies, private sector companies and others.

3. http://www.theplacementproject.co.za%20/- The Placement Project, a capacity-building initiative by the Foundation for Professional Development, was launched on the January 1st, 2006, in response to a feasibility study demonstrating that the establishment of a non-profit recruitment agency would help fill the sweeping vacancies in the South African public health care sector. The Placement Project was established to reduce the vacancy rates in the public health sector, increase the general health infrastructure capacity and, thereby, improve access to quality health care service for all uninsured patients.

4. [PDF] Corporations, Community, Private-Public Sector Partnerships (PPPs ...

5. THE MICRO FINANCE SECTOR INTERNATIONALLY AND IN SOUTH AFRICA

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - http://www.innercircleforum.com/
trevor@innercircleforum.com

Toward A Better Understanding Of SOCIAL Entrepreneurship

Found some nice links for research purposes:

1. Toward a better understanding of social entrepreneurship

• includes link to FREE DOWNLOAD!Read Jerr Boschee's four-part seriesabout strategic marketingfor social entrepreneurs

2. Social Entrepreneurship and Earned-income Strategies: The Next Wave

Neat input, including this:

• Do it if you have passion about the project. You will not succeed if your heart is not in the venture.
• Have clarity of purpose: define what success will look like and quantify your goals. Write a business plan for the new venture.
• Make sure you have "sufficient" resources to succeed: money, time, psychic energy. If you are already wiped out from your job, you will have a hard time finding the extra energy and passion you will need to make the venture successful.
• You must have personal and organizational commitment and courage to succeed Is your organization ready to take this on? Is everyone on board with the plan?
• Articulate your organization's core values: does this venture fit in with the list? If not, don't do it.
• Be focused on the customer.
• You must have a willingness to plan: do not hesitate to ask for help.
• Be #1 or #2 in the marketplace, or don't do it at all. Like General Electric, you should plan on being the top player in the marketplace of services for your venture, or you should not bother to do it.
• Build the right team to carry it out.

3. Social Entrepreneurship Toolbox of Resources - PDF

4. The Nonprofit Environment Has Changed

• Community needs are growing in size and diversity.
• More nonprofits are competing for government and philanthropic funds.
• Traditional forms of funding are becoming smaller and less reliable.
• New for-profit businesses are competing with nonprofits to serve community needs.
• Funders and donors are demanding more accountability.

5. Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship


Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - http://www.innercircleforum.com/
trevor@innercircleforum.com

From Social Mission To Social ENTERPRISE

Trevor writes:

In this forum we're going to explore what happens when you combine a serial SOCIAL Entrepreneur with a SERIAL Entrepreneur .

In the blog extract below from - The Guerrilla, the Entrepreneur and the Motivation to Change the World - we find some neat insights as to what makes the social entrepreneur (I particularly like the mind-map style graphic):

The Social Entrepreneur

A detailed look at the motivations and trials of Ashoka Fellows is chronicled in How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein.




These passionate social entrepreneurs have been tapped by the organization to transfer a social mission into a social enterprise. The Fellowship provides the time and resources for Fellows to quit their jobs and concentrate energy on hammering out the business processes, fundraising, generating community participation and driving political will to ensure measurable change.

Bill Drayton, former head of the EPA and McKinsey consultant, defines the four qualities of the social entrepreneur as:

Creativity: Both the ability to set goals in the future and the chutzbah and agility to overcome obstacles.

Entrepreneurial Quality: Beyond altruism, energy and managerial skills, Ashoka asks, "Will this person change the pattern in the whole field?" Drayton sums up how they differ from artists, social workers and academics, saying that entrepreneurs can't rest until their ideas take hold across all of society; they stay up at night asking "how-to" questions in a quest to bring theory into action.

Idea Resilience: Will the idea outlast the entrepreneur? How many lives will be affected or improved?

Ethical Fiber: Drayton tells others to go with their gut and ask themselves, "In a dangerous situation, would you be totally at ease if this person were with you?"

Bornstein's blog has a detailed story tracing the evolution of one man's motivation to become a social entrepreneur.

About MIRRIAM ZWANE

Trevor writes:

Found this background story in ITWeb's brainstorm:

ICT's top woman: living a dream - By Tracy Burrows

[Johannesburg, 1 December 2003] - Praxis co-founder and African ICT Achiever winner Mirriam Zwane had a bumpy career start, but she's living her dream now.

Mirriam Zwane is one of those tiny dynamos one tends to find leading the pack in business. Co-owner and director of IT solutions company Praxis Computing, Zwane packs more work into a week than most people accomplish in a month, yet she doesn't look anywhere near burnout. In fact, she radiates serenity.

Zwane was recently recognised for her "vast contribution to the ICT sector" when she won the African ICT Achiever: Top Woman in ICT 2003 award. She also won the Diva Africa 2003 award. Her strongest attributes - a love of training, a desire to make an impact on others and an instinct for business - are what earned her the accolades and helped her contribute to the success of Praxis Computing. That, sheer guts and hard work.

Keeping balls in the air

Mirriam Zwane, co-founder, PraxisNow 48, Zwane has forged ahead in the world of ICT for the past 16 years. Born and raised in limited circumstances in Soweto, she dropped out of school when she fell pregnant with her first child and only managed to complete her matric a few years later.

"My family was disappointed when I left school," says Zwane. "I was a good student, and they had hoped I'd make something of myself. At the time, I made a promise to myself to make good. And I believe I have."

In 1981, Zwane took a secretarial job at Phillips SA and was one of the few secretaries there that managed to master a complicated ordering process called "indenting" which used mainly codes for parts. Zwane then applied for a post in the IT department, training colleagues in the use of the desktop software.

"I knew I could train people," she says. "When I was a schoolgirl, I tutored my friends in maths and arithmetic and gave literacy classes to a few of my mother's neighbours."

Zwane worked as a software trainer at Phillips until 1993, at the same time running a PC literacy training facility at home in Soweto after hours. "I bought three PCs and trained people in the evenings. It wasn't easy, because by then I had four children to care for, but it was exceptionally rewarding," she says.

Later, when the Zwane family moved house, to Lombardy East, she was involved in literacy training for adults via her church.

Zwane kept adding to her workload, and still juggles her daily management, client liaison and training role at work with community work in Soweto. She is proudly involved with a food garden scheme and clothing manufacture and brickmaking projects in her old home town. Zwane also found time to complete diploma courses through Unisa and Damelin and, for balance, she takes care of household chores, maintains her garden and works out at gym.

Braving a cut-throat industry

Zwane and her husband Tito, an employee relations manager at Eskom, managed to put their children through a private school, which was where she met Mish Middelman, her current business partner, whose child was a schoolmate of her youngest son. "Mish and I used to joke about joining forces to launch an IT business."

Taking risks

"Sometimes you have to take risks… If you don't take a chance, how will you know what you are capable of doing."

Coincidentally, Zwane left Phillips to work as a freelance consultant around the time that Middelman and Michael Haddad launched Praxis. "He asked me to come in as a training consultant and, within a couple of months, I joined permanently. There were only three of us and a receptionist at first."

Starting Praxis in a cut-throat industry was tough on all the founders. "We all had families and had to rely on our partners to carry the burden while we built the business," says Zwane.

The company now has a staff complement of 60, a long list of top clients and was this year named one of South Africa's Top 20 Non-Listed Companies and Top Three Most Progressive Companies in ICT.

"I attribute our success to many things: our excellent leader, Mish, brilliant top management and a team of outstanding staff. The company is fully representative and runs a graduate internship programme to give young people training and work experience."

Zwane - fondly called "Ma" by some of her employees - currently holds a 25 percent share in the company and hopes to increase this.

"Starting here was a risk for me," she points out. "But sometimes you have to take risks. I always say, if you don't take a chance how will you know what you're capable of doing? I've surprised myself over the years. Sometimes even scared myself. I sit back and say: How did that happen?"

Business blood

Zwane says she has taken business risks on instinct and because she feels she has nothing to lose. Besides which, she has entrepreneurial genes. Her father, hospitalised with TB for many years, made shoes for sale while in hospital, to help pay his children's school fees. Her mother, left as the major breadwinner for eight children, opened a crèche with a few local women and taught her children "to make do" with what they had. "My mother taught me values like resilience and integrity, and these shape my approach to business," she says.

Zwane isn't fazed by her exceptionally busy life. "I don't feel close to burnout," she says, "but I do look forward to Sundays, and Wednesday evenings, when I go to church to 'recharge'. Sunday is normally free for 'chill time' with my family - especially my two youngest children."

Zwane finds it difficult to list her aspirations and goals. "I'm already living my dream," she says. "If there is anything I wish for, it's that people will look back on my life and say I made something from nothing, that I impacted the lives of South Africans."

What Is a SOCIAL Entrepreneur?

Trevor writes:

From Web definitions for Social entrepreneur -

A social entrepreneur is someone who develops social innovation through entrepreneurial solutions. A social entrepreneur takes notice of a social problem or need, decides to passionately pursue it, creatively innovates new solutions and entrepreneurially addresses the issue through an organised 'business plan' approach, thus allowing the social entrepreneur to address the issue of sustainability of the social venture undertaken.

See Social entrepreneurship

Regards
Trevor Nel - 011 - 705-2790 - http://www.innercircleforum.com/
trevor@innercircleforum.com