There are interesting developments underway in Africa. The vast continent repeatedly made news in 2014 for being home to seven of the world’s fastest growing economies, and drew interest for having a large part of its growth driven by the Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) sector. This latter tidbit is crucial. It signals a move away from ‘natural resources-led’ growth in GDP to something more sustainable, and in a manner that can help reap demographic dividend of a continent where 60% of the population is less than 25 years of age.
A significant number of these SMEs are social innovators, taking head-on critical, persistent challenges faced by income-poor populations in the region. They are creating indigenous products / services, building local supply chains, hiring local people and tapping into local markets at the base of the economic pyramid. A bulk of these social innovators also imbibes a crucial tenet of modern leadership – a business philosophy of sustainability.
For example, among the bright young SMEs we have met in the past year is Sun Culture, an enterprise that sells solar-powered irrigation systems. It defines performance in more-than-revenue terms, to the tune of “USD 400,000 in economic impact, delivered in terms of labor savings, input savings and enhanced crop yields.” Sun Culture makes irrigation systems but thinks of itself as a vehicle for improving farmer income and agriculture output. Africa has emerged as a hotbed of exciting social innovations, which in turn, are playing a crucial role in enabling inclusive growth opportunities and development.
