eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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The research problem of this study was to find out how social entrepreneurial activity can contribute to sustainable development in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. In more detail, this study researched (1) what kinds of measures social entrepreneurial activity can undertake, (2) how it can become self-sustained and attain scale and sustainability as well as (3) how it can overcome impediments typical to a developing context. The research objective was to apply analogical conceptual ideas in this new context of rural Sub-Saharan Africa and examine which of them held true.

These conceptual ideas constituted the summarizing theoretical framework of this study. The empirical part was done as an embedded multiple-case study of three successful social enterprises that contributed to sustainable development in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Various secondary qualitative data sources were utilized, such as documentary information and public interviews that were all collected by the Internet. The framework guided the research analysis wherein pattern matching was used across the cases.

The findings show for the majority of the conceptual ideas to hold true in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. Contrary to one idea, the social entrepreneurial activity did not satisfy basic human needs with for instance nutrition or health services, but with an entire infrastructure and a refined system. The social entrepreneurial activity thus performed this measure with holistic, systemic and long-term means rather than with one-sided, narrow-scoped and short-term solutions.

As conclusion, social entrepreneurial activity can contribute to sustainable development in rural Sub-Saharan Africa by (1) satisfying basic human needs with for instance an infrastructure or a refined system, creating communities that establish norms, rights, and collaborative behaviour as a prerequisite for participating in social and economic development and by translating the more abstract needs of future generations into action today. Social entrepreneurial activity can also contribute by (2) proactively creating own value networks of companies that share same social vision, developing resource strategies as an integral part of the business model and integrating target groups into the social value networks. Lastly, social entrepreneurial activity can also contribute by (3) building necessary infrastructure and creating social capabilities to respond to economic opportunity by generating human and social capital.