Young entrepreneurs look for social causes Housing sales inching towards pre-demon levels

Rising enthusiasm among youth globally to work for a mission

■

As the brains behind a hydroponics farming system in rural Kenya, 17-yearold Jefferson Kang’acha struggled to get noticed but he now expects the youth climate movement led by Greta Thunberg to bolster other young people on a mission.

Kang’acha, a computer technology student, decided to apply technology to farming when his parents were hit by another drought and he came up with an automated hydroponics unit built from recycled waste and plastic bottles.

After his first unit produced 2 tonnes of tomatoes, he founded the Eden Horticultural Hub, a social enterprise that now runs four hydroponics systems in his home town of Limuru to supply the local community and lunches to 1,500 school pupils.

Echoing many young social entrepreneurs attending two of the sector’s big annual events this week, Kang’acha said he was brushed off at first but eventually - similarly to Swedish teenager Thunberg - people started to listen.

“At first it was hard to be heard, particularly as the average age of a farmer in Kenya is about 60,” said Kang’acha, now 20, speaking on the sidelines of the 12th annual Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) in Ethiopia.

“But young people have the advantage of exposure to technology and can bring solutions to old problems, working together with the

◗ A Deloitte report on the rise of social enterprise in 2018 highlighted that for the first time in mature markets, young people believe their lives will be worse than their parents

experience of not as rivals.”

A Thomson Reuters Foundation poll released this week found there was rising enthusiasm among young people globally to work for businesses with a mission to do social good.

Three in four of about 900 experts surveyed said more young people—under the age of 25 — were interested in working in social enterprises, which tackle a host of issues, from healthcare to climate change.

“We don’t just want jobs, we want meaningful jobs,” said Sabrina Chakori, 27, who set up a “tool library” in Brisbane in Australia in 2017 that charges an annual membership fee to borrow donated tools, camping equipment and sports gear.

“The current economic system does not work for the majority of us and we are starting to look at new economic

older people,

systems,” she said, adding the library not only used equipment filling up landfills but also cut consumerism.

As well as concerns about the global economy and climate change, young entrepreneurs said a lack of jobs and worries about affording their own homes weighed on their generation.

Having previously worked for a Wall Street hedge fund, New Yorker Bree Jones decided to use her skills to help people so founded Parity, a social enterprise that converts abandoned homes in Baltimore into affordable ones.

Jones, 28, said younger generations have been spurred on by the “existential threats” they face, from mass incarceration, police brutality and maternal mortality rates afflicting black people in the United States, to issues like climate breakdown. “For me it was about using my college education and career skill set and bringing that back into my community in a way that lifts my community,” Jones told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the sidelines of SOCAP in San Francisco.

“We realise we have been extracting so much from the earth without replenishing and that is not sustainable – we can do business, make a profit, make money, but also give back to our customers, community and the environment.”

A Deloitte report on the rise of social enterprise in 2018 highlighted that for the first time in mature markets, young people believe their lives will be worse than their parents.

This was making them question corporate behaviour and the economic and social principles that guide it, with 86% of millennials saying business success should be measured in terms of more than just financial performance.

At the same time, technological advances were opening up new opportunities for businesses to positively impact society.

Ellen Chilemba, 25, a DJ and founder of Tiwale, a community-based organization set up in 2012 to give microloans, training and school grants to women and girls in Malawi, said people were starting to take young people more seriously.

“For us, our future is not as visible as for older generations,” said Chilemba at the SEWF, pointing to the global climate movement spurred by Thunberg.

“It is time for movements and not just individual efforts.”

Despite the subdued sentiments, the residential market has started looking up. While the industry is confident that sales will get back to pre-demonetisation levels, it is not sure about touching 2013 levels.

As per the data from JLL India, residential sales in the top seven cities have moved up to 1.15 lakh units in the first nine months of 2019 from 1.01 lakh units in the same period last year. Post demonetization, in the first nine months of 2017, sales had fallen to 72,300 units – a decline of 40 per cent from 1.19 lakh units in the previous year period.

According to Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research & REIS, JLL India, the first benchmark would be the pre-demonetisation levels, which is achievable for the industry. However, it will be difficult for the market to get back to 2013 levels when 1.48 lakh units were sold in the first nine months.

‘The 2013 level is the ultimate benchmark. But whether the industry will get back to those levels is a big question. The investor fraternity which was active in the real estate market till 2013 is not likely to come back. Till then, it was investor-driven sales an d now it is an end-user market. The industry as such will be in a better position in 2020,” said Das.

The disruptions in the market, including RERA, GST and the changes in the

Benami Act, have almost settled down. “The real estate market has become more dependable. Further, the declining interest rates also have started manifesting positively, especially in the affordable and mid-segment residential units. Once the economy starts picking up, things will improve,’ he added.

Meanwhile, the government measures to boost the affordable segment sales are expected to support faster delivery of units. PropTiger estimates that nearly 4.5 lakh affordable homes will be delivered by 2020 in India’s 9 major cities. Real estate developers have changed their approach amid changing market dynamics, showing a greater commitment towards project delivery than on new launches.

“The demand for affordable homes is expected to increase in the near future amid record low-interest rates and higher tax benefits. In the past, project delays have resulted in developers attracting negative publicity, which has dented the fortunes of many and left several others struggling for survival. A reset in this regard is absolutely necessary to bring back the missing trust factor among home buyers. Now that the government has announced last-mile funding for stuck projects through the launch of the Rs 20,000 crore stress fund, project delivery rates will hopefully improve further in the near future,” said DhruvAgarwala, Group CEO, Elara technologies, which owns PropTiger.

The 2013 level is the ultimate benchmark. But if the industry gets back to those levels is a big question