Professor Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and former chairperson, has urged local youth to pursue purposeful social entrepreneurship.
This, as the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is anticipated to create new categories of social entrepreneurship, according to Schwab.
He made the comments during a public lecture at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Friday, facilitated byUJ vice-chancellor and principal professor Letlhokwa Mpedi.
Social entrepreneurship is the practice of creating and running businesses or organisations that aim to solve social, environmental, or community problems, while generating enough income to sustain their operations.
Unlike traditional businesses, which primarily focus on maximising profits, social enterprises use business principles to create positive social impact. Unlike charities, they typically earn at least part of their income through the sale of products or services, rather than relying entirely on donations.
South Africa’s national unemployment rate spiked to 32.7% in the first quarter, based on the recent Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics SA.
The majority of young people still carry the burden of unemployment, with those aged 15-24 facing the highest unemployment rate at 60.9%, followed by those aged 25-34 at 40.6%.
The emergence of generative and agentic AI tools and solutions, coupled with digital skills limitations, have exacerbated fears that this will fuel the country’s dire unemployment.
However, the WEF founder says South Africa is slowly developing the notion of social entrepreneurship to counter some of the challenges that lie ahead, with research showing 198 000 social entrepreneurs (social enterprises) in the country.
These, for example, are said to collectively support around 393 000 jobs and are particularly active in sectors such as education, healthcare and civic engagement.
Intelligent age revolution
In terms of how social entrepreneurship will evolve in the intelligent age, Schwab believes this comprises of two main areas.
“First, when we look at AI, we will see many jobs replaced. The World Economic Forum, under my leadership, created a yearly future of jobs report and we can roughly say that about one-quarter of the jobs in the more industrialised countries will become idle. Another quarter will require substantial upskilling to enable people to still be in the job market.
“So, where do we create? We cannot have a society without jobs. Where are the needs? The needs are also social areas. It’s healthcare and education, and so on. We must create many more social entrepreneurs, and there are fantastic opportunities. I think there’s a new category of social entrepreneurs today that use new technologies for social good.
“My plea is become social entrepreneurs; you may earn less money, but you may say one day that you had a very purposeful, satisfying and impactful life.”
WEF is the international organisation that brings together stakeholders of global society, government, business, civil society and science. It is best known for its annual meeting in Davos, which convenes political, business and academic leaders to discuss global issues.
During the public lecture Schwab and Mpedi also discussed the transition from the digital age to the intelligent age, emphasising the transformative impact of AI and quantum computing.
Schwab highlighted the need for leadership to counteract technological developments by focusing on human qualities. He also stressed the importance of universities evolving from knowledge transmission to lifelong learning and certification. He called for professors to become coaches and students to co-create knowledge, aiming for a more interactive and creative educational system.
He also provided his prognosis for South Africa, given some of the monumental challenges the country continues to face post-democracy.
“For South Africa and Africa, I am optimistic, because the intelligent age allows young people to be entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs in the material world. There’s such an intelligent, hungry young population in South Africa, and in Africa in general, so the new technologies give the opportunity to leapfrog.
“If South Africa is capable to develop the best system to promote innovation, to promote entrepreneurship, it will have a big future. But to have such a world system comprises many different components, and education is a very important one.”
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