Social Innovation: Gearing Business to Address Social Systemic Challenges

The local economy is stagnating and unemployment is soaring. As marketers, we are seeing the effects of this worrying state of affairs manifest in society in different ways.

From a political point of view, South Africans have run out of patience when it comes to putting up with failed service delivery, high levels of corruption, and an absence of the equal opportunities for all citizens that government had so enthusiastically promised.

As a result, a significant number of people are fed up with the environment they are living in. We see this in the rise of violent protests and in the rise of activism, as many citizens realise that this may be the only way to effect real change. Indeed, people expressed sharp-edged discontent in our recent local elections.