, which seeks to “galvanise South Africa towards a future where no child is unjustly denied the opportunity to reach their full potential by achieving zero stunting by 2030”.
Sinikiwe, a single mother, supplements her income as a social franchisee by running Flourish antenatal and postnatal classes in her spare time. Besides the extra income of about R250 a week, which she uses to purchase her weekly fruit and vegetables, Sinikiwe also reaps personal fulfilment from the work she does.
Grace, a successful SmartStarter who has been operating in the Eastern Cape from May 2017, was moved to join SmartStart – an early learning social franchise that provides quality pre-school education to three and four-year-olds – to ensure that children in her community are kept safe. This was after a child went missing after going out to play. Since then, she has wanted to make sure that children in her community have a safe place to play and learn.
Our “new normal” will have to include social enterprises like Flourish and SmartStart – dual-purpose interventions that prioritise the needs of communities while simultaneously ensuring that the people who are part of them can make livelihoods out of the things they are most passionate about.