Business as a force for good

The front page of the Business Section held a photograph of the South African president Jacob Zuma and Sir Richard Branson shaking hands on a deal to create a disease control hub to help fight AIDS and other health priorities in South Africa. It was the culmination of years of effort on behalf of the non-for profit organisation Virgin Unite.  

I had spent that week with Branson and his team in South Africa, after bidding for the trip in an auction at The Sunday Times Fast Track dinner some weeks earlier. My business had just been ranked the 15th fastest growing private company in the UK, and I have to confess I didn’t hold back in accepting the ceaseless supply of Champagne on offer that day at the famous entrepreneur’s Oxfordshire home.

Little did I know, the trip I would end up making would dramatically change my outlook on life  and open my mind to the idea and possibility of business as a force for good. 

Beyond appeasing my conscience, I, like many people who make charitable donations, sometimes question what sustainable difference it is actually going to make. The opportunity to go to South Africa with Branson and see how my money was actually being put to use provided a fascinating insight into an organisation that, to my mind, thinks very differently about the way in which it effects change.

The trip began with some five star luxury at Branson’s private game reserve Ulusaba on the border of the Kruger National Park, a series of luxury lodges perched on a hill overlooking a panoramic view of the bush. Myself, my business partners and a small group of American entrepreneurs were shown great hospitality and treated to safari trips that exceeded all of our expectations. The schedule quickly became more serious as we visited the Silaule House orphanage, where 29 children from 6 months old to 19 years are cared for. Ninety per cent of the children here have lost their parents to AIDS. Lindsay Hanekom, the Manager described some of the challenges,“Out here in these villages, we pretty much don’t have any basics, we don’t have any running water, we don’t have any medical assistance, we don’t have any shops out here.” Practical support comes in the form of rain water tanks, hippo rollers (water containers) to stop people carrying the water from the river on their heads and transport to clinics for medical attention.

Our next trip to the Bhubezi Community Healthcare Centre, which was set up with funds donated by Virgin Unite, provided a sobering but optimistic analysis of the devastation of HIV/AIDS in the area. . Twenty per cent of the local population are affected by this infection, and Dr Hugo Templeman is very grateful for the start up capital but doesn’t want to build a dependency on Virgin Unite. “The passion I have for this place is that I would love to create it together with the community in such a way that in a few years they do not need the Virgin Unites or the Richard Bransons, but they could stand up for themselves and manage it themselves and be financially independent.”

Unemployment is a huge problem in this country but here at the school, we want to create employers not just employees.But it wasn’t until I reached the Branson School of Entrepreneurship in Johannesburg that I started to gain real insight into the concept of ‘business as a force for good’. In an anonymous looking office block, waiting behind a wall on which hung a 15 foot wide neon signature of the man himself, sat a classroom of expectant students waiting for our party of entrepreneurs to arrive. In a country where urban unemployment is estimated at almost 30 per cent, the comment of the School’s head James Wanjohi, seemed pertinent, “Unemployment is a huge problem in this country but here at the school, we want to create employers not just employees.”

The students were from townships like Soweto and Alexandra, and all had various business ideas to pitch to us. One that caught my imagination was an idea for mobile shower and toilet facilities for areas in the City. The student, who spoke with huge passion reasoned that two thirds of the people in local communities lived without hot water. The idea was simple and it had legs. Other business plans for a video production company and a student newspaper would find it harder to flourish in my view.

It wasn’t until I went out into some of the deprived communities around Johannesburg to visit the students from years gone by, that Wanjohi’s theory really hit home. At a three year old pottery business in the city, Sonwabile Mngenela  is supporting 25 employees, “I think I would never be where I am now without the Branson's school of Entrepreneurship, there are so many things that I have learnt from them, they are growing me.” Sonwabile has since gone on to open another branch of his business in the Eastern Cape.

In Soweto, I visited a couple of guys known as Amos and Musa who had set up a business called Gaming Zone. Effectively they had converted an old shipping container into an entertainment centre full of computers and video games. There were ten or so children glued to the screens playing football and racing cars. The two started the business in September, 2006 with one container; they now have seven dotted around the Townships. Not only is the business profitable, but it serves to keep children off dangerous Johannesburg streets. Musa explains the support they’ve received from the school, “They have been mentoring us since the beginning of this year and from there it has been fruitful and the other thing is the financial support that they are giving us, because they’ve been very helpful in terms of that.”

The last student I visited was Tumi Masite in a Township called Alexandra, a neighbourhood with a reputation for having the highest levels of crime in Johannesburg. The security guard driving me warned, “You don’t want to get caught out here on your own, it’s very dangerous.” We pulled up outside the Ikasi gym which was set up in 2005 with Branson’s help. It was a pretty run down single story concrete building which contained a variety of free weights and bench presses. With 500 members, it’s a popular facility with the local community and one that has had a positive impact as Tumi explains, “It’s getting more people into gyms and more people into a healthier life and more people away from crime. It has changed many lives of people and also has changed my life.”

What was evident from the three businesses I visited, was the reliance for mentorship and support from Branson’s school. In a society where until this generation, blacks rarely ran businesses or had access to an education that would enable them to be entrepreneurial, what Branson is doing is remarkable. At a swanky dinner for South African entrepreneurs I attended with Branson during my visit, one cynic questioned whether or not you can teach entrepreneurialism. As an entrepreneur myself, I think the learning process is continuous and the notion that I didn’t have people to guide me on my way is preposterous.

In Branson’s eyes, “Those people who have extreme wealth have an extreme responsibility to utilise that wealth constructively...you know entrepreneurs often can cut through the red tape and get problems sorted.”

And his arguments for businesses to get involved are persuasive, “Do it in a way where your staff can see you doing it and I actually think you know most likely it will pay for itself because your people, your suppliers, everybody you come into contact with will be that much more proud of your company. The fact that it is a force for good and not just a force to make money.”

At a time when the questionable practices of many of the worlds highest profile financial institutions have been laid bare, I would suggest that there has never been a better moment to embrace what I see growing into a significant movement, the power of ‘business as a force for good’.