Cette contribution est de Magatte CAMARA

Magatte est diplômé en Licence au Département d’Anglais de l’Université de Cheikh Anta

Diop et a obtenu un Certificat en Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship au School Business de l’Université de Connecticut après avoir participé au SUSI Program (Study of the United States Institues). Il a contribué à l’initiation des jeunes de Diamalaye en informatique pendant plus de 5 ans en tant que formateur. Et plus tard devient un des membres fondateur d’une association à but non lucratif (Help the Street Children) pour venir en aide aux enfants de la rue. Magatte est un passionné des services communautaires et croit fortement au partage, à l’égalité des droits pour tous et à l’esprit d’Ubuntu : « Je suis comme je suis parce que tu es comme tu es». Il a aussi investi à l’atelier de production Niamantou pour la promotion du cinéma d’animation au Sénégal. SUSI Fellow puis Ashoka ChangeMaker, il a rejoint l’équipe de Jokkolabs, où il est maintenant le Hub Manager et s’occupe de la bonne gestion de l’espace de co-working, de l’animation (événements), du projet Semaine Mondiale de l’Entrepreneuriat Edtion 2016 (+1000 participants, 56 partenaires et 47 événements) et le porte à un niveau supérieur avec toute l’équipe!

Dans cet essai en anglais, Magatte nous parle de l’entreprenariat social et de son impact sur le développement.

Maguette Camara durant un speech

Magatte Camara dans un stand de Jokkolabs

To what extent can social entrepreneurship be a positive tool for development?

Today, with social and economic inequalities growing worldwide, doing business in a more ‘friendly’ way is on the rise. In other words, it is possible both to make money and contribute to social development. This concept is more commonly known as called social entrepreneurship.

This essay will demonstrate that social entrepreneurship can be employed as a positive tool for development. Assessing evidence, it will be shown that the positive impact that social enterprise can have on societies in the developing world is huge. The difference between such initiatives and pure business will also be explored. This is significant because not only do social enterprises create employment (like any form of business), at a time when global youth unemployment is high- but depending on their product or service, their activities can also have significant benefits for communities, marginalised groups, and even the environment (Darko 2015). Social enterprise can also make contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly ‘Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth. In many respects, the social enterprise revolution has been a great success, however, this paper will argue that social enterprise cannot alone achieve everything and there are limitations and challenges.

There are many different types and ways of working for social enterprises, which makes defining the concept difficult, but this essay has selected two different social enterprise examples as case studies to illustrate the positive effects that such initiatives can have on people’s lives and society in general. Jokkolabs[1], Senegal, and Salone Style[2], Sierra Leone have been selected for this purpose. These case studies will be used to illustrate the different ways that social enterprise can be a positive tool for development. Since each example operates in a different way in terms of achieving social impact, each case study presents us with a different story and thus allows us to draw conclusions on the concept of ‘social enterprise’.

Vous pouvez télécharger l’essai complet sur ce lien : Social enterprise & development ESSAY_MC_May 2016-final