Understanding the nature of social enterprise in Africa: insights from Zimbabwe
Tendai Douglas Svotwa et al.
What the paper says
This study provides insights and impetus into the nature of social enterprise and its development in Zimbabwe. Though the discourse on social enterprise has emerged as a powerful intervention to address socio-economic challenges, less is known about its metamorphosis in countries in the global South, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa. Like many countries in this region, Zimbabwe is confronted by numerous challenges, such as rising unemployment, poverty, and food insecurity due to persistent structural problems and the need to reduce budget deficits. This study contributes to addressing this gap in knowledge by scrutinizing four social enterprises based in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, using a qualitative case study approach. A semi-structured interview guide was employed to solicit data from key informants. By using components of the Neo-Institutional theoretical approach, this investigation unravels and explicates that the creation, development, and scaling of social enterprises in Zimbabwe are greatly influenced by the environment in which they operate. In addition, the creativity of the entrepreneurs in harnessing social capital, improvising, and utilizing resources at hand is pivotal to the survival and longevity of their business operations in a demanding and challenging economic environment.
2 citations
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10 |
| M · momentum | 0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.