Maximising social investments
By Kim Marr, published 16/10/2006
So often at braais or dinner parties when careers and jobs are
discussed, people invariably don’t know how to respond to my scenario:
“I work in the not for profit sector”. However, almost without fail I
will get the ‘oh, you are so lucky to be giving something back’ or ‘I
wish my job had as much meaning as yours’ response.
The truth is, the last decade and a half of my life spent in the
development, not for profit, sector hasn’t been ‘out of the goodness of
my heart’, nor motivated by an altruistic intention to ‘give something
back’, but rather a combination of intrinsically being drawn to the
social challenges faced by people of ‘developing’ countries and the
challenge of connecting these scenarios with the business world.
Eleven years ago I founded and grew a not for profit youth-based
organisation based in the former Transkei. Six years later, I crossed
on to the ‘other side’ of the not for profit sector by working for the
Shuttleworth Foundation where our aim was not to ask for funds, but to
distribute them. This combination of on-the-ground knowledge and
experience of beneficiary and donor organisations has stood me in good
stead as I face my latest venture, Social Advantage.
Social Advantage assists businesses to maximise their social
investments. In other words, I help businesses to develop, implement,
monitor and measure their social interventions where both communities
and small businesses are the beneficiaries. From a BEE point of view,
my speciality translates into two of the seven focus areas, namely
enterprise development and residual or corporate social investment. So,
in this way, Social Advantage helps businesses to improve their BEE
compliancy score and achieve sustainable transformation in our country.
My motivation for setting up Social Advantage is that the distribution
of money where there is no immediate (financial) return on investment
often results in people just handing out cheques without seeking
advice, examining the options or consciously thinking about the social
and economic change their investment could bring about. It is almost as
if because the returns are not immediately tangible, they are somehow
not as important. It is no wonder then that despite the millions that
have been ‘handed-out’, there is little to show for it.
In a recent article written by JP Landman for BOE Private Clients, he
looked at the different realities faced by South Africans in relation
to our future and talked of the importance of developing social capital
and increasing productivity for a growing economy. Social
responsibility and enterprise development are therefore two very
important growth areas for our country’s economy and as a result,
should be taken more seriously.
With the increased pressure put on businesses to be BEE compliant, I
wonder how many businesses realise what it actually means? It is not
about being compliant and having a score above 31; it is about
assisting to increase capacity, social capital, participation and
therefore productivity in our economy.
By Kim Marr, Director of Social Advantage.
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Social Advantage is running a workshop on the 24th October at the Cape
Chamber in Cape Town on the basics of understanding BEE, becoming
compliant and practical interventions to improve your score with a
specific focus on social investment and enterprise development. The
workshop is aimed at businesses with a turnover of under R25 million.
For more information, visit www.socialadvantage.co.za
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