Social Enterprise-A Better Help in Africa

Africa receives a lot of donations from charity each year. However, it is also the land for vibrant social entrepreneurs.

I read an article about several social entrepreneurs in Africa. The most interesting one is the story of Mr Farmer who founded Partner in Health (PIH). He strived to make sure PIH provide affordable health care services to people in Africa and other developing countries. PIH has trained more than 8,000 community health workers, and set about proving that this workforce was as capable as professionals in their adherence to rigorous standards.

Mr Farmer created his social enterprise by building supportive industry clusters, reconceiving products and markets and redefining productivity in the value chain. PIH trained community health workers in local communities, which gave more people the knowledge about health care at the same time offered job opportunities to local people. PIH reconceived its health care services to be affordable, and it offered its services in developing countries. Productivity meant that PIH cured more people. PIH saved people’s lives while making profits from it.

Mr Farmer’s social enterprise is for-profit but driven mainly by a social objective. Profit is the means to sustain his business. It works better than charity. Instead of negatively receiving donations, people positively work for social enterprise. Social enterprise is a win-win situation while charity needs a large amount of donations from society and charity may make people become lazy and only want help from others.

In conclusion, social enterprise is a better help in Africa. Instead of simply donating money to African people, we should support social entrepreneurs in Africa.