Over 1m African children’s lives improved by local social entrepreneurs

NaijaAgroNet:

Over one million African children have benefited from social enterprise development on the continent in the last five years, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to a new report released by Reach for Change Africa, a non-profit organization, also reported that over 300 early-stage social entrepreneurs were supported to develop organizations that are improving the lives of children, youth and women in 7 African countries.

NaijaAgroNet gathered, Reach for Change Africa is marking its 5th anniversary themed “Accelerating Impact. Driving Change”, 

Since it was first launched in Accra, Ghana in 2012, Reach for Change Africa has provided crucial business development support for social entrepreneurs who, in turn, used their social businesses to impact over one million children. As a result, over 435,000 African children were protected from mental abuse and threats, over 308,000 children were provided with high quality education, and over 156,000 children were supported to develop and live healthy lives.

“The social enterprise movement is really starting to take off in Africa, and we are honoured to be a part of this movement for change,” said Amma Lartey, Reach for Change Africa’s Regional Director. “With the right supports, social entrepreneurs have the potential to lead Africa’s development and impact millions along the way.”

Reach for Change Africa is a non-profit organization that runs incubators, accelerators and other customized programs to help local social entrepreneurs develop sustainable organizations that impact the lives of children, youth and women.

Additionally, the report showed a number of social entrepreneurs from the 7 countries where Reach for Change Africa operates, explaining how the organization’s programs helped them to develop their social ventures.

“Being in the Incubator has helped me develop a scalable model,” said Carolyne Ekyarisiima, the founder of Apps & Girls in Tanzania. Apps & Girls is a social enterprise that is bridging the gender gap in ICT through coding clubs, workshops, exhibitions, hackathons, bootcamps and competitions for girls and young women. Since joining the Reach for Change Incubator, Ms. Ekyarisiima has scaled her organization from just one location to 21 clubs in Dar es Salaam.

“This year, I spoke with my mentor at Reach for Change about the possibility of franchising my social enterprise and got great feedback. This led me to apply for the NEXTGEN franchising competition and because of the great influence and impact of the Reach for Change Incubator, I was among the winners! Now I am looking into scaling Apps & Girls across all of Tanzania and other African countries,” she added.

The Reach for Change Incubator also helped James Kofi Annan build a social enterprise that’s fighting child-trafficking in Ghana.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology

Expert says entrepreneurship not silver bullet for fighting poverty

NaijaAgroNet:

 

As the Global Entrepreneurship Week, the world’s largest campaign to promote entrepreneurs, comes to a close an academic from The University of Manchester warns that entrepreneurship shouldn’t be a silver bullet for fighting poverty, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to Dr Nicola Banks from The University of Manchester is an ESRC Future Research Leader (The Economic and Social Research Council) who is leading on research into young people's experiences of urban poverty in Tanzania, this kind of definition negates the spirit of entrepreneurship.

She told NaijaAgroNet in a press statement made available by Kath Paddison, Media Relations Officer, The University of Manchester that the world should be wary of solutions that focus on entrepreneurship as a silver bullet for fighting poverty.

“Entrepreneurship can be a way to help young people out of poverty, but a sole focus on entrepreneurship can put all the responsibility on the young person and removes responsibility from governments,” she said.

Dr Bank also pointed that as the popular TV show The Apprentice illustrates, “we're not all born with entrepreneurial skill.  Multilateral agencies and national governments need to address the full range of obstacles facing young people to adequately support the world’s growing population of young people.” 

Isaac Oyimah
+Remmy Nweke +enterpreneurs us +The University of Manchester  
... Linking agrobiz, sustainable environs, people & technology