The social problems that exist within South Africa cannot be ignored. The magnitude of poverty, unemployment and crime that exist are ever increasing while HIV/Aids has left 10 percent of the children within this country orphaned. Discrepancies in the access to proper healthcare and education between the private sector and the public sector is evident, mainly due to the failure of the public sector (government) to effectively implement and manage the healthcare and education systems in South Africa. In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of registered non-profit organisations which can be attributed to a greater awareness of the social problems that exist, as well as the inability of the government and the public sector to address the social problems on their own. Social entrepreneurs are attempting to find innovative solutions to these problems by starting non-profit organisations and then implementing projects and programmes that will help alleviate these social problems. Social entrepreneurship is a fairly new concept, particularly within the realm of academic research. Previous studies on social entrepreneurship have highlighted the need for social entrepreneurs and have also emphasised the many challenges these social entrepreneurs face, one of which is the lack of education and business skills training. Research indicates that a non-profit organisation should be run like a small business in order to be successful, which highlights the importance for social entrepreneurs to be equipped with the appropriate business skills. The impact that a social entrepreneur’s education and business skills training has on the success of a non-profit organisation is however still largely unknown. The purpose of this study was three-fold: firstly, to study the relationship between the education and business skills training of a social entrepreneur and the successful functioning of their non-profit organisations; secondly, to develop recommendations for social entrepreneurs on how to more effectively manage their non-profit organisations and guide them in what business training will benefit them as a social entrepreneur; and lastly, to add to the already existing knowledge on social entrepreneurs, particularly within a South African context. The main research methodology used to conduct the empirical investigation in this study was qualitative in nature. Elements of quantitative data collection were adopted in the instruments in order to ensure standardisation when measuring a social entrepreneur’s education and business skills training, as well as the success of their respective non-profit organisation. In-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen social entrepreneurs who work in a variety of social developmental sectors within South Africa. An interview guide was developed to record the formal levels of education and business skills training received by the respondents and to discuss the impact of other types of education and business skills training on their capabilities as managers of non-profit organisations. A tool was developed to measure the success of the respective non-profit organisations and the results were compared to the social entrepreneur’s levels of education and business skills training. Global analysis was the data analysis technique adopted in this study and was used to identify common themes among the transcripts as well as possible relationships between different variables. There were two main findings with regard to the impact a social entrepreneur’s education and business skills training has on the successful functioning of his/her respective non-profit organisation. Firstly, the formal types of education and business skills training of a social entrepreneur have a direct impact on the success of a nonprofit organisation. Secondly, once a social entrepreneur has completed school level education, informal types of education and business skills training play a bigger role than formal types in the effective management and success of his/her respective non-profit organisation. The findings of the empirical investigation showed that the most valuable three types of informal education and business skills training include workshops and conferences, business experience and networks. The most important recommendation for social entrepreneurs is that their school level education should be completed, in order to access further education and business skills training opportunities. The social entrepreneurs must equip themselves with certain skills and knowledge, namely: financial management, legal knowledge, human resource management, strategic management, monitoring and evaluation skills, technical skills and research skills, in order to ensure the successful functioning of their respective non-profit organization.

This dissertation is concerned with the documentation and analysis of contemporary responses of a particular segment of Greek society to the economic crisis that has impacted on Greece, Europe and the wider capitalist world. Based on ethnographic research conducted in multiple sites, including the city of Athens and the village of Kandyla, I argue that dynamic contemporary connections exist between rural and urban Greece in relation to these responses. I also argue that contemporary responses to the crisis among this segment of society, notably small-business people, are constructed through and built upon strategies that have long histories in Greek village life and that are informed by responses to earlier crises, the memories of which are kept alive both materially and discursively. These responses are rooted in and performed in what Herzfeld has called “collective identification” evident in a set of shared sentiments among research participants regarding the valorisation of hard work and the principle of self-sufficiency, the parasitic nature of the Greek state, the constant production of insiders and outsiders in relation to the state, the use of reciprocity in business contexts, and the deployment of stereotypes regarding youths and politicians. / Dissertation (MSocSci) University of Pretoria, 2017. / Anthropology and Archaeology / MSocSci / Unrestricted

In the recent years, a new type of investments called Impact Investing has been growing rapidly. Those investments are made with the intention to improve social and/or environmental conditions in the world while generating financial returns. In this case, financial metrics are not enough to measure whether the investor objective was reached, and tools for measuring the social performance of the investments are needed. From that need, various measurement approaches were created, but the fragmentation of methods leads to a huge inefficiency in the impact investing industry. Efforts towards creating standards for measuring and reporting social performance are emerging, but there is still little understanding among impact investors about the real benefits and possible challenges the standardization would bring. In this context, an important question arises, which is the subject of study in this research: What are the potential consequences of establishing social performance standards for the impact investing industry? The purpose of this research is to analyze the possible consequences of establishing social performance standards on the impact investing industry. Qualitative approach and interpretive paradigm were chosen to be followed in this research. Primary data was collected in the form of interviews with impact investors and specialists in social performance measurement. Secondary data comes from books, articles, journals and websites. The data was analyzed using the consequences of innovations framework presented by Rogers (2003). The results suggest that obviously there are potential desirable and undesirable direct consequences, but also indirect consequences that are not perceived without a thorough analysis. Key words: Impact Investing, social performance, social performance standards, social businesses.

This study sheds light on sustainable social entrepreneurship by investigating the main motivators of rural entrepreneurs to start and continue in their businesses beyond financial gain. In this paper, case study design with local entrepreneurs and organizations from two different countries: Sweden and Palestine, was used as the unit of analysis. In order to unleash more creativity, the author adopted iterative abductive thinking, which allows the researcher to go back and forth between theories and empirical data.  Systematic review approach in reviewing the literature was used as the research purpose and questions are clearly defined in the research. Guided and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect empirical data. "Initial coding" was used for data analysis, allowing the author to identify themes and thus perform complete research.  Rural entrepreneurs' motivations are heavily focused on achieving sustainable development. Sustainable entrepreneurs recognize the significance of creating businesses that are good for the environment and benefit their communities. While financial gain is still one of the most important factors they seek when starting businesses in order to survive and continue to achieve social and environmental benefits, the extent varies depending on several factors such as the entrepreneur's level of involvement in entrepreneurship, their backgrounds, resources availability, policies, and support. The journey is still full of challenges and difficulties, and much support from government agencies and communities is required. However, there is a growing awareness among these parties about the significance of understanding and supporting rural entrepreneurs on their path.

The development mode of social enterprise in China has clear policy-driven characteristics. As an important social innovation center in China, Chengdu has formed a new type of social governance model under the support and guidance of its government policies since 2018, and social enterprises have played an essential role therein. Under the theoretic framework of social acceleration theory, this research aims to develop a better understanding of the inherent contradictions in the social enterprise ecosystem through the fieldwork and in-depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, and further analyze the tension-filled process of contemporary China’s people-oriented subjectivity construction. / 博士(グローバル社会研究) / Doctor of Philosophy in Global Society Studies / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

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Within a highly complex and interconnected system of cities, community involvement tools that engage citizens in developing the urban context could move towards more sustainable solutions while bringing social change. Literature shows that urban agriculture conducted in the form of shared community gardens can be a significant component of sustainable community development strategies, particularly in disadvantaged neighbourhoods (Ohmer et al, 2009).  In the last decades, several socioeconomic challenges combined with the climate change has resulted in social and economic polarization within the cities. Greece, witnessed numerous transitions regarding the degradation of urban space (Latinopoulos, 2022). Severe lack of public green spaces, abandoned open spaces in neighbourhoods, limited access to natural settings, indifference of residents to participate to collective activities are some of the main characteristics of Greek cities highlighting the need to further explore the reasons behind it. Thessaloniki is selected as a representative paradigm of a contemporary city that deals with these challenges providing a limited number of urban agriculture and social entrepreneurship initiatives. The study aims to point out the significance of urban agriculture as a participatory tool that, when combined with the concept of social entrepreneurship can be the spark for social change within the city of Thessaloniki. Findings are supported by primary data given from interviewees who are users of seven urban gardens in the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki. Data also demonstrate that, in spite of acknowledging the positive impact of urban agriculture, participants show limited awareness on the concepts of sustainable development and social entrepreneurship. To conclude, identifying beliefs and behaviours of civilians can be the starting point towards a more sustainable future for our cities. As Brenner & Schmid attest (2015), the city is re-emerging as the key site in which pioneering solutions and responses to the global challenges will occur.

A capitalist world system is dictating how the global economy is organised, and entrepreneurship is suggested as a global solution for economic development. In development practices bottom up approaches such as social entrepreneurship are challenging the traditional donor-based model. The Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) is a United States lead initiative to promote entrepreneurship and economic ties with the Western world. This study analyses the online media discussion around the GES 2015 held in Nairobi, with focus on answering how sampled Kenyan blog and online news articles construct and contribute to Kenyan entrepreneurship discourse with their reporting around the GES, whether they reflect a more global or local capitalist narrative, and finally what kind of development thinking the entrepreneurship discourse reflects. A literature review builds context by describing the development of the Kenyan capitalist narrative. The empirical part applies a mixed method approach, with elements from content as well as discourse analysis in studying a sample of 120 Kenyan blog and online news articles. The analysis reveals that the local online reporting around the GES reflects a global capitalist narrative with a highly optimistic attitude towards entrepreneurship as a means to create economic growth as well as social change.

No / This paper questions the application of the entrepreneurship discourse to social entrepreneurship in the UK and looks at how people ‘doing’ social enterprise appropriate or re-write the discourse to articulate their own realities. Drawing on phenomenological enquiry and discourse analysis, the study analyses the micro discourses of social entrepreneurs, as opposed to the meta rhetorics of (social) entrepreneurship. Analysis using both corpus linguistics software and Critical Discourse Analysis showed a preoccupation among interviewees with local issues, collective action, geographical community and local power struggles. Echoes of the enterprise discourse are evident but couched in linguistic devices that suggest a modified social construction of entrepreneurship, in which interviewees draw their legitimacy from a local or social morality. These findings are at odds ideologically with the discursive shifts of UK social enterprise policy over the last decade, in which a managerially defined rhetoric of enterprise is used to promote efficiency, business discipline and financial independence. The paper raises critical awareness of the tension in meanings appropriated to the enterprise discourse by social enterprise policy and practice and illustrates the value of discourse analysis for entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship research.

This study is concerned with contributing to solutions that address the problems of youth unemployment, inequality and poverty in South Africa, specifically among those youth who are being marginalised from participating equally in mainstream economic activities. It argues that financial and digital exclusion, as well as poor access to a quality education, are factors which are currently limiting these youths' economic potential and perpetuating a cycle of unemployment, inequality and poverty in South Africa. The literature and theory of social entrepreneurship presents a strong case to address unemployment, inequality and poverty, as well as to stimulate economic growth by creating new business and self-employment opportunities for the youth. This qualitative grounded theory study evaluates the theory of social entrepreneurship in practice, by comparing the theory to the lived realities of some disenfranchised youths in Cape Town. The study also provides an analysis of the systems of privilege and the dual economy that exist in South Africa. Through feedback received during interviews with a representative sample of the target group, the study offers new insights into the challenges faced when young people are seeking employment or want to start a business in the South African economy. Youth social entrepreneurship development and start-up incubation programmes arguably perform a critical function in facilitating inclusive economic participation among the youth. Developing new insights, concepts and recommendations to maximise these programmes' social impact is a critical function of this study, which ultimately hopes to contribute to the creation of more inclusive entrepreneurial opportunities for disadvantaged South African youth.