Page 15 - Winning Women 2017

BWASA 15

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
JUDGES’ NOTES

ALISON SMEETON:
In South Africa, social Founder of I Can! Disability Academy
entrepreneurship is a relatively
new concept that blends business
and social change, and offers a hen Alison
lifeline to many people in need. Smeeton found
The Network for Social Wout she was
Entrepreneurs at the Gordon pregnant with her second
Institute of Business Science’s child, Jamie, she was
Kerryn Krige, chief executive almost finished with her BCom degree,
of African Pursuit Nobuntu and had a corporate life mapped out in
Webster, and chief executive her head. But Jamie (now 17) was born
of Gumbi Global Kwanele Gumbi with Down syndrome.
had the unenviable task of “I stopped studying at this point.
sifting through a list of women Getting a degree would be pointless –
who are all doing really good, raising Jamie would require me to stay
selfless work. at home.”
“We were really impressed with When Jamie was two years old,
the quality of the candidates,” Alison and her husband Tim started a living with a disability,” she says.
Krige said. non-profit organisation called “Their biggest challenge is that they
Many of the candidates, she said, EmployAbility with three other parents learn differently. This does not mean
had set up viable and sustainable of children with Down syndrome. that they do not learn at all.”
organisations. She added that the In 2009 she started the I Can! While managing the three businesses,
judging process was rigorous and development centre and in, 2010, Smeeton also runs a busy household.
the judges often had “heated opened the first I Can! Disability Besides Jamie, she has two other
debates”. Academy (today there are eight) – children, Jessica (19) and Josh (13). It’s
While candidates’ portfolios were adult training and recruitment centres. been quite a journey.
helpful, the interviews provided And in 2011 she started Khulisani, “I knew nothing about Down
the judges with more insight into where 80 people with intellectual Syndrome, or any other disability, until
the individual. disabilities are being trained to farm I had Jamie. I started reading as much
“You’re actually sitting as on a 34-hectare farm. as possible and it was so depressing
confidants. You see some things “I do what I do because I believe in because most articles highlighted what
that are soft touches and soft the abilities of people living with a my son couldn’t or wouldn’t do. I
powers, which are all things that disability – specifically people with realised quickly that in order for him
are important, that enable them to intellectual disabilities, who are the to realise his full potential, I would
do what they do.” most marginalised group of people need to make things happen myself.”
Gumbi, who is also the father of
two daughters, said women
empowerment was critical at a SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
time when violence against women
and children was prevalent in SUE WILDISH:
society. Managing director: The Lunchbox Fund
For him, he said, it was
important for the winner in the
social entrepreneurship category to Twenty thousand hot,
be a “beacon of hope” and someone delicious meals being
who inspired younger people. wolfed down by hungry
“It’s somebody who doesn’t need school children across all
us, but we need them,” he said. nine provinces each day.
Webster agreed, but said she was That’s the work of The Lunchbox Fund,
also looking for a candidate with an organisation that has grown over a
authentic leadership; who was four-year period under the guidance of
pioneering change. managing director Sue Wildish.
“It’s people who grow teams, who “You can’t teach a hungry child,” she
grow people and grow South says, “they cannot focus, cannot learn.
Africans,” Webster said. We provide an incentive for the child to
“We need more businesses that go to school and to stay in school.”
are driving social change.” The meals are varied and fortified to
provide a full range of nutrients. And
special packaging ensures the food is food into premises upgrades, wages and
kept fresh and secure. education materials.
Women from local communities are “Parents are attracted to schools
hired as ‘Food Mamas’. “For many, this is where there’s good food, so numbers
their first formal job. At one school a increase. This means they can register
young girl told me the food tastes extra with the social development department
good ‘because it’s made with love’. The and eventually get funding. Which helps
Mamas carry those skills with them – them work to self-sustainability.”
cooking, menu planning, portion control, But it’s not always easy. “What we see
health, hygiene and storage. Skills can make us sad. We have 15 000
transference is essential if women are to children on our waiting list who we
move forward and up,” says Wildish. know aren’t eating every day. And there
The programme allows principals to are millions more. So there is much still
redeploy money they were spending on to be done.”