NSE/TSI Development Intelligence Breakfast Series

SOUTH AFRICA'S TOWNSHIPS:
CHAOS OR CATALYST?

Breakfast Briefing & Discussion

South Africa’s townships, created in part by apartheid and arguably forgotten thereafter, have been called “a place of fear, vigilante justice, xenophobic violence and a haven for criminals and undocumented foreigners.”

Are they?

Tshikululu Social Investments and GIBS present a very different insight into the places that millions of South Africans call home.

Professor Anton Harber, author of Diepsloot, describes the textured social, cultural, economic and political melting pot that he discovered while researching his book and suggests what his findings mean for South Africans generally and social investors specifically.

Lumkile Mondi, chief economist of the IDC, talking about township economies asks the question: is our economic and political strategy ignorant of the reality of township living and at what cost?

We invite you to challenge your own view of township society and how you are responding in business or social investment strategy.

Date:

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Venue:

The Restaurant, Gordon Institute of Business Science,
26 Melville Road, Illovo

Time:

Breakfast is served at 07:15 and the briefing begins at 08:00

Cost:

R250 per delegate, regrettably only accepted in cash

Please RSVP to LungeloMgcina on 011 771 4230 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 011 771 4230 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or mgcinal@gibs.co.za

Professor Anton Harber, journalist, author, former editor of the Mail & Guardian, television producer and journalism trainer, has most recently published Diepsloot, a study of a semi-rural expanse that has transformed into a dense, seething settlement of about 200 000 people. Amidst the poverty, violence and chaos, he found a bustling place much loved by its inhabitants, an active economy with all the associated hustling and trading. He found people who, when neglected by the state, made their own solutions. Professor Harber directs the Journalism and Media Studies Programme at Wits University.

Mr Lumkile Mondi is currently chief economist at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in Johannesburg, a fellow of the African Leadership Initiative (ALI) – an Aspen Institute effort to influence leaders to be socially conscious in addressing community issues in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals – and a visiting research fellow at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Stellenbosch.

Previous events in this series....

TOWARDS THE FUTURE:
Global Trends in Social Change

Breakfast briefing and discussion

First, there was an industrial revolution, then a technological one. Now, in the first decades of the 21^st century, a movement for social change is gaining momentum. Slowly shaping government and private sector agendas, and driven by individuals, this revolution too has the potential to inexorably alter our futures.

Some of the world's most creative minds are formulating new models for doing business and creating sustainable income while reducing poverty, advancing social equality and access to services, and linking people in ways that were previously unimaginable.

The first Development Intelligence Series breakfast for 2011 has gathered some of those creative minds to provide a snapshot of this new thinking, in the areas of business, funding and technology operating in the social sphere. If you are running an organisation interested in incorporating this new world thinking into your business strategy, or developing some of your own, then this event is for you. Come and hear which trends may influence your decision-making.

Michael Traill from Social Ventures Australia will tell us about new international impact investing trends, complementing Barry Smith’s description of latest thinking in global social funding, while Gustav Praekelt will lead a discussion on new ideas in using mobile technology for social change.

Michael Traill is the founding chief executive of Social Ventures Australia, an organisation that’s offering innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. He helped establish this unique organisation in 2002 after 15 years as a co-founder and Executive Director of Macquarie Bank's venture capital arm, Macquarie Direct Investment. Using his business management skills, this Harvard MBA Graduate has been able to use the strengths of the ‘venture capital’ model that he knows so well, to help identify and evaluate those existing social ventures that are on the path to achieving sustainable change for the long term.

Barry Smith led Synergos’ overall work in Africa as Senior Director, Southern Africa from September 2002 though December 2010. Mr. Smith has extensive experience in Southern Africa. He served for nearly 14 years as founding Executive Director of the International Fundraising Consortium (INTERFUND), a consortium of European development agencies channelling support to anti-poverty and pro-democracy organizations in the region. A key accomplishment at INTERFUND was the creation of an innovative HIV/AIDS and Development Program that promoted an integrated approach to the disease on the part of both NGOs and funders.

Gustav Praekelt is the founder of Praekelt Digital - a company that develops mobile solutions for emerging markets. After completing his B.Sc. in Computer Science and Philosophy, he co-founded one of the early digital interactive studio in Africa and was its technical director for 10 years. His belief in the power of mobile phones to transform Africa inspired him to establish the Praekelt Foundation in 2006. A technology incubator that develops robust, highly scalable mobile solutions for social good, its programmes have reached over 50 million people across 15 countries in Africa.

___________________________________________________________________________________
THE FUTURE PERFECT?
Understanding youth culture and values for best social investing

Breakfast briefing and discussion

Local urban African youth are not only the beneficiaries of much social investment attention, through education, health, lifeskills, and other interventions, but they also face challenges often greater than their elders in finding formal employment and secure societal surroundings. How, then, are young South Africans to cope with an ossified job market with very limited employment absorption capacity?
Indeed, how do the 20 million South Africans aged between 10 and 29 years old (fully 40% of the population) see their world? What are their core values, their culture, their outlook on today and tomorrow?

Facilitated by renowned brand strategist Andy Rice, this fifth briefing of the Development Intelligence Series exposes you to unique research by Andrea Kraushaar of Youth Dynamix done in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya comparing their different outlooks of youth; along with a presentation on current youth culture trends, habits and outlooks by the MD of the remarkably successful urban youth radio station, Yfm, Kanthan Pillay.

This is an important opportunity for social investors and community development champions to get a grip on the fast flowing change of young South Africa. About the speakers...

Recognised as one of South Africa's best known brand consultants, this event's facilitator, Andy Rice, has worked extensively on the evolution of branding strategy as a recognised business discipline in South Africa. He was strategic planning director of Ogilvy and Mather in Johannesburg prior to co-founding his own brand architecture company in 1997. Since the, Yellowwood Future Architects has grown to become a renowned independent strategic consultancy in South Africa, with a client list that includes many blue chip multinational and South African organisations.

Hailing from Johannesburg, Andrea Kraushaar is the Youth Strategy and Research Director at Youth Dynamix. Having completed her Masters degree in Marketing (cum laude), she has nearly 10 years of youth marketing and consulting experience. Andrea's analytical mind, extensive youth knowledge and vision allow her to effectively lead the research and strategic division to ensure quality and relevant youth research, the creation of new youth insights, innovative strategic models and methods.

Kanthan Pillay is MD and CEO of the Yired group of companies (including 99.2 Yfm). He completed high school in Bangalore, India; and majored in Political Science at Princeton University. Kanthan has certificates in journalism from Boston University and from the Senior Journalist Development Programme, Niemann Foundation, Harvard University.

MERCHANTS OF MODERNITY
Why business should stop apologising and get more strategic

Breakfast briefing and discussion

At the first Development Intelligence Series breakfast for 2010, Ann Bernstein presented a new approach to cut through an increasingly flawed conversation about business and society.

The perspectives and interests of those who live in rich, western countries dominate the current conversation. Activists, analysts and others – however well intentioned – do not grasp the realities of poverty and the hard choices of development outside the rich industrialised world. As a result, the debate about business, ‘responsibility’ and corporate involvement in development is distorted, with few voices from developing countries being heard and the positive legacy of business remaining unacknowledged.

Bernstein, author of the recently published and much-acclaimed book The case for business in developing economies, urges business not to let such attacks stand unchallenged. It must find the confidence and strategic vision to stop apologising, develop its own public agenda and start propagating the phenomenal benefits of competitive capitalism for the less developed countries of the world.

About Ann Bernstein

Ann Bernstein heads the Centre for Development and Enterprise, South Africa, the country’s leading policy centre for social and economic development. Supported by the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, the Epoch and Optima Trusts, and the FirstRand Foundation, the CDE has a special focus on the role of business and its contribution to development.

Her new book, The Case for Business in Developing Economies was published by Penguin in 2010. She is a regular public speaker and has been published by newspapers around the country, often appearing on radio and television. Her many other publications and books include: Migration and Refugee Policies (with M. Weiner, London, 1999), Business and Democracy: Cohabitation or Contradiction? (with P.L. Berger, London, 1998), and Policy Making in A New Democracy: South Africa’s Challenges for the 21st century(CDE,1999).

SWIMMING TOGETHER IN A SWIRLING TIDE

Breakfast briefing and discussion

All entrepreneurs, social and otherwise, are operating in a world of dynamic shifts in political, economic and cultural centres of influence. It is critical to get an overall picture of these changes to best position ourselves for the future.

In this wide-ranging presentation, FirstRand CEO-designate Sizwe Nxasana addressed:

The shifts in the global economy from the developed world to the emerging world
The recovery of the West from the global financial crisis, and its ability to hold on to power
The depth of the economic “Anglo-Saxon disease”
Questions with regards Africa’s ability to move from the sidelines to the centre
The need for formal sector business and social entrepreneurs to work closely in adressing South African development needs

About Sizwe Nxasana

Sizwe Nxasana is chariman of the FirstRand Foundation, South Africa's largest financial sector corporate social invesmtent intitiative. He is also CEO of the FirstRand Bank and CEO-designate of FirstRand Limited. Nxasana founded the country's first black-owned national ccountants firm in 1996 and ebecame Telkom's CEO in 1998.

LIVING IN AN EMERGING SOCIETY:
South African business and the social sectorBreakfast Debate and Discussion

When some South Africans think of business leadership in this country, they think of it as an outpost of Europe or America. Some others are parochial to the point of ignoring business globalisation. The reality is a far more dynamic one where the best business positioning takes the opportunities and challenges of working in an emerging economy into its stride. And this ncludes how formal business interacts with the social sectors.

Nick Binedell offered delegates insight into what is required from business leadership to ensure a complete transition to a democratic and broadly prosperous South Africa. The discussion focused on the social sector including on how business best needs to be engaged, and the relationships between the social sector, business and the state.

Context: The economic crisis represents an opportunity to revisit our approach to growth and development. In this regard there have been renewed calls from the ANC Youth League and Cosatu for nationalisation. Across the continent the role of business has had both positive and negative consequences under a range of conflicting circumstances. Nick Binedell has been engaging in an ongoing discussion with senior leaders on these issues.

About Nick Binedell

Nick’s academic qualifications include a PhD from the University of Washington in Seattle, an MBA from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rhodes University. In 1998 he was invited to establish a new business school focused on meeting the individual and corporate needs of business in South Africa. Nick is a determined traveler andexplorer. His earlier roots included extensive travel and by the time he was ten he had lived in Zimbabwe, Germany, Yemen, Kenya, South Africa and Britain. He has spent five years in the United States and in the past three years has traveled to Sydney, Shanghai, Dubai, Prague, Budapest, Lagos as well as European and American cities.

FOXY SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS IN EXTREME CONDITIONS
with Clem Sunter

Inaugural Breakfast Briefing

With corporate social investment funds under recessionary pressure, Clem Sunter spoke of how social entrepreneurs and CSI practitioners need to act to keep South Africa in the world’s premier league, particularly in the context of scenarios for South Africa post-2010. He also talked about how NGOs and business can have foxy conversations in “extreme times”.

Sunter is a former chairman of the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund.