Tackling global ills on our doorstep

Unemployment; poverty; inequality. There seems to be a general consensus that these three words succinctly summarise the human challenges not only in South Africa, but across the globe.

While some may think that they can escape the negative effects of growing inequality, evidence is ample that high levels of inequality are bad for rich, poor, and everyone in between.

It engenders social problems that make everyone’s life less fulfilling than it otherwise would be. Inequality extracts massive social costs from society with regard to health care and other social problems.

Also, in a world polarised by ideology, religious conflict, and vast degrees of inequality, education is often proposed as the ultimate solution, least of all, due to its commitment to an “academic mode of thinking” – that stance of systematic scepticism that looks for evidence and formulates testable hypotheses.

For John Daniels, former Vice-Chancellor of the Open University in Britain, this academic mode of thinking, which he contrasts with an “ideological mode of thinking”, is among the most precious assets of humankind.

James Paul Gee describes this mode of thinking as one in which people argue their position based on both evidence and a moral vision, where they have confronted people and texts who disagree with them and for which they themselves have searched for disconfirming evidence.

Gee hopes that people would have also gone beyond evidence to form a considered vision of life and the world based on wisdom from the past and the present, including wisdom from outside their own comfort zones.

In addition, an academic mode of thinking requires peo- ple to remain open and committed to a public forum in which they deal respectfully with opposing but well-considered viewpoints, in the hope that new and better ideas may emerge out of the clash of the old ones.

So defined, education is a force for equality in the sense of making everyone count, giving every member of society a valued life and enabling each to fully participate in and contribute to our society, to learn how to learn, and to adapt to changing times.

Education, however, is not a quick-fix solution as its positive impact often becomes visible only after several generations. A child who goes to school might learn to read and write, for example.

However, without books other reading material at home, and without parents who read with and for their children, this child would not have developed a social and emotional affiliation or affinity to reading, literacy or academic language.

This place that child at a high risk for failure in school. While more privileged parents tend to have sustained conversations with their children, poorer parents often do not, either because they are too busy (or too tired) with work, or because they accept the cultural norms that favour directing children instead of having elaborate conversations with them. This situation may take generations to change.

In contrast, business has the potential to have a more direct positive impact on society, not least due to its ability to create employment through which the livelihoods of employees and their extended families are sustained.

Although you do not have to be rich to do good, money is often a force for good. Some business people can and often do a great deal of good.

Think of Bill Gates for example; or Richard Branson. The biggest charities in the world are often started by rich men and women, even though some begun with next to nothing.

Harvard, the wealthiest college in the world, is a charitable trust which started with a few books and just $350 (R4 700).

Closer to home, given the high unemployment in Grahamstown (reported to be between 70% and 80%), what can we as a business fraternity do to help? One possibility is for businesses to become involved in supporting small businesses with investment, advice, mentorship and training, activities for which businesses can score “enterprise development” BEE points.

The Assumption Development Centre (ADC) in Joza, which GBF is proud to be associated with, presents businesspeople with an ideal opportunity to become involved, not by giving money, but by giving their time.

As part of their Socio-Economic Development Model, the ADC will present a week-long entrepreneurship programme from 20 February (offered by SocioNext and sponsored by the South African Breweries Foundation). The purpose of this programme is to stimulate ideas for the development of small businesses in Joza and beyond.

Thirty young people, all selected from the ADC’s 2016 Thabiso Life Skills Programme, will participate in this course.

The success of this course is highly dependent on the availability of established business people to act as mentors for these budding entrepreneurs.

While mentors will be provided with a course outline to get a feel of what is covered, mentors are invited to pay a visit to the Centre during the coursework section.

The initial mentorship phase is envisaged to last for about six months (until the end of August), with a minimum of an hour per month of mentorship time expected.

Mentors are not required to tell participants what to do, but rather to coax them into thinking through their ideas by asking thought-provoking questions, and challenging them to exceed their goals.

Mentors could also share their own experiences and help the young entrepreneurs uncover new opportunities; in addition to assisting them with networking opportunities by introducing them to potential business partners, suppliers or customers.

This helps prevent start-ups from repeating earlier mistakes.

Interested business people who wish to get involved in mentoring are invited to contact Maso Nduna at cjoza.co.za or call him on 079 038 9253 or 046 637 1147.

“What’s wrong with the world today?” was reportedly asked of famous authors by The Times newspaper in London. In response, one author simply replied, “Dear Sir: Regarding your article ‘ What’s Wrong with the World?’ I am. Yours truly,” GK Chesterton.