Financial Tips For New Entrepreneurs
Through our impact investing as well as our consulting to clients on enterprise and supplier development, we at Simanye work a lot with SMEs and entrepreneurs of all sizes in the impact as well as other sectors. As a result, we have learned a lot along the way which may be of use. If you […]
Going from linear to circular – innovations in waste management
Pollution and climate change have become a pressing problem for our planet in recent years. If we do not start taking action quickly, life on Earth will not only become a lot less pleasant for all of us but we are also facing massive biodiversity losses and other major environmental impacts which may not be […]
Global vs Local Impact Investing Observations from a Semi-Cynical Pragmatic Optimist
In October, I went to New Delhi in India to attend one of the biggest annual impact investing conferences in the world, driven by the Global Steering Group (GSG) on Impact Investing, which is chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen, a venture capital veteran credited with starting one of the largest venture capital firms in the […]
SMME Funding – a mismatch between supply and demand
Working in the space of SMME development, as well as social enterprise development in particular, I see a lot of the challenges that this sector faces around the world and especially here in South Africa. These challenges have been generally well documented, but what is less well documented are the solutions that are needed to […]
The YES Initiative has been Gazetted
The YES Initiative has finally been gazetted! Although gazetted a few weeks ago already, we wanted to wait for feedback from the dti’s briefing session held on the 10th of September, so we could include answers to our questions in our communication with our clients on this initiative. However, it seems the dti is not […]
Social Economy and Collaboration in Practice
Being both an impact investor as well as a co-founder of a space which is focused on co-working, programmes, and events for social enterprises, I am quite firmly (and happily!) embedded in the social economy. I travel around the world as much as possible with the goal of visiting other social enterprise communities and initiatives […]
BEE: Has a once-well-intentioned policy lost its way?
Between the idea and the reality Between the motion and the act Falls the shadow – T.S. Eliot I have been operating in the BEE industry for well over a decade and have found myself fighting a losing battle against deep cynicism over the last year. It’s hard to tell whether this is simply because […]
Mandela Day – Giving Back on Mandela’s 100th Birthday
Wednesday, July 18 was Mandela Day, which also happened to be the 100th birthday of Nelson Mandela. In celebration, the Simanye team chose to donate care packs to the Immaculata Shelter at 17 Sturdee Ave. in Rosebank (a short walk from our offices at Impact Hub Joburg). Immaculata Shelter has approximately 400 people on their register to whom they […]
Social Entrepreneurs: Balancing Mission and Money
Mission drift is a topic that comes up often when speaking to social entrepreneurs – when your goal is to be financially self-sustaining and even profitable but your mission is one of impact these forces can sometimes come into conflict. Even though I firmly believe that impact and profit are not mutually exclusive and there is […]
2018’s Impact Launchpad Finalists
This year’s session of our Impact Launchpad is well underway at Impact Hub Joburg. 2018’s programme has a focus on the health, wellness and fitness industries and the finalists this year have some exciting and innovative early-stage start-up ideas that they are beginning to take shape. This week’s session participants are covering the Business Model […]