The Stanford Social Innovation Review defines a social entrepreneur as follows:

“Someone who targets an unfortunate but stable equilibrium that causes the neglect, marginalization, or suffering of a segment of humanity; who brings to bear on this situation his or her inspiration, direct action, creativity, courage, and fortitude; and who aims for and ultimately affects the establishment of a new stable equilibrium that secures permanent benefit for the targeted group and society at large.”

Hosted in the community of Philippi out of UCT’s satellite campus Philippi Village (PV) (a joint venture between Business Activator and the Bertha Foundation), the Changemaker programme is a 2-month interactive social entrepreneurship programme for young people, not in formal education, training, or employment, offered by the University of Cape Town's Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship and the UCT GSB Solution Space. The programme, currently in it’s second iteration, focuses on developing social entrepreneurship skills, anchored in the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. Skills were built and developed through the delivery of 3 core modules: social entrepreneurship, sports for development and mental health.

The case for developing and implementing more social entrepreneurship programming can be seen every time you drive through the township in South Africa. We have growing numbers of unemployment, large numbers of social ills, and what some have referred to as the eradication of ubuntu.  Further to this, a stagnating economy coupled with a under capacitated and already low performing basic education system, make the case for entrepreneurship development even more crucial.

The 2022 Changemakers Programme, which kicked off in September in Philippi, in partnership with the UCT GSB Solution space, equipped a cohort of 17 learners. At its heart, the Changemakers Programme is a personal development programme which aims to develop a social entrepreneurial mindset and empower participants with the skills and mindset needed to access further educational or employment opportunities. The programme can be seen as a merging of conventional entrepreneurship (profit incentivized-business practices) with social purpose driven ideas and principles. A key piece of the programme revolved around mental health and psychosocial support, with the cohort taken through 8 modules of a mental health curriculum titled Breaking Beliefs. We as a Centre believe that if youth-focused skills development programmes are to thrive and achieve the lofty outcomes they set out, they need to take meaningful account of the individual at the centre. A part of the great success of this programme was the consistent appreciation for mental health, and the need to equip young people with the skills required to improve their mental health and their vigour for life.

Through the social entrepreneurship curriculum participants were encouraged to develop business ideas that would look to develop their communities. Three participants were selected who won cash prizes for their exciting ideas. They will also have access to ongoing mentorship, as well as marketing and communications support to help grow and implement their ideas.

Watch the Changemakers Programme video here.

The issues people face in communities such as Philippi on a day-to-day basis are complex and multi-dimensional, influenced by a range of interrelated socio-economic factors, and are hard to predict and define. They require considerable resources, dedication and passion in order to be addressed.

Developing and implementing holistic programmes which look to expose youth to a range of development aligned curriculum should be at the heart of interventions in communities such as Philippi. Communities like these are where most youth continue to live on the margins of society, and are not exposed to a wide range of interventions and methodologies. In other words, it is of the utmost importance to expose young people to ideas and practices which they have may not have come across before.

At the heart of the work across the Bertha Centre and the Changemakers Programme is a commitment to both the development of social innovation practices and social entrepreneurs.

“I saw the BC programme as an institution, because I’ve never attended a formal institution like a university. Now I’m able to run a successful business. Entrepreneurship needs to be the main focus because to have your own side hustle it is important and all of that starts with knowing what a business is.” - Participant 2021

“The programme helped me, especially my confidence. I’m currently studying teaching and want to pursue an acting course afterwards. I needed the confidence boost for my acting and in class we did presentations which were helpful.” - Participant 2021