Last night, more than 20 CEOs from the South African tech industry took part in the 702 Sun International CEO Sleepout challenge to raise awareness, and funding, for the homeless.
Gwen Lane in Sandton was cordoned off for some of South Africa's richest leaders to experience sleeping on the streets on one of the coldest nights of the year so far.
Each participant was given a 'survival kit', containing a sleeping bag that could handle temperatures of minus three degrees Celsius and a custom-designed cardboard chair that folded out into a bed. All sleeping bags and boxes were to be donated to actual homeless people after the event.
The CEO Sleepout Web site explains: "While this does not begin to simulate the reality of South Africa's most vulnerable children, it is a show of solidarity and a commitment to use business as a force for change."
Last night's event kicked off at the Maslow Hotel with a welcoming party. The participants were then chauffeured 450m from the hotel to Gwen Lane in Porsche Cayenne vehicles and other luxury SUVs. Security ushered the CEOs onto a blue carpet, past three protesters holding signs that read "Destitute, please help" and "Houses for Khoisan".
Participants were required to stand in line to register before moving into the enclosed street. Some stood in the long registration queue for nearly 10 minutes, sipping on Gluhwein from takeaway coffee cups.
Reactions on Twitter were heavy with criticism, saying the event was "patronising", "Poverty Porn" and a "glorified sleepover for rich kids". Twitter user @fanele_fs tweeted: "Homeless people do not have designer soups and emergency services on standby. #CEOSleepOutZA is an insult to their plight."
'Glorified sleepover'
ITWeb quizzed some of the participating executives from tech companies on their reaction to the criticism. All agreed the tech industry could be doing more, "but there is always more to do," said Richard Mulholland, CEO of Missing Link.
"To some degree, the ease and availability of tech as a communication platform for raising awareness has almost removed the need to actually do stuff. And I think initiatives like this that force people to not just spread the word but to actually be part of the word that gets spread, is very important.
"I believe that maybe it is a glorified sleepover for rich kids, but anything that can do this and simultaneously raise R25 million can't be bad. But whatever the different intentions are of people getting involved, they did just get involved.
"And I think it is a far cry more... better than putting a hashtag on their Twitter account. There is always more to be done, and I think we should embrace that and always try to do as much as we possibly can," added Mulholland.
JJ Milner, MD of Global Micro Solutions, concurred the criticism is fair: "I don't think there is anyone here that thinks, in our warm clothing and all of our gear, that we are anywhere near experiencing what it means to be on the streets.
"It is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I think we want to show that we do empathise and show everybody that we want to make a difference."
Brett Levy, joint-CEO of Blue Label Telecoms, raised the most money out of all the participants, with more than R380 000 donated. More than R22 million was raised by the 246 participants. All funds are to be donated to Girls and Boys Town.
The initiative aimed to raise R25 million through having 250 CEOs sleep out.
The challenge was founded in 2006 in Australia and has since become a global movement. The CEO Sleepout Web site states the challenge demands business has a broader mandate than profits on its agenda.
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