By Beverley Houston

The number of South Africans who have slipped into relative poverty from 1996 until 2007 has increased substantially, according to figures released by the Institute for Race Relations. And while the economy may be open to a certain extent, only a few are benefitting from it.

“Without intervention, the poor are unable to enter the market, not because they don’t have the skills, but it’s because they don’t have access to the market. Our markets are too open and only big business can compete at a competitive level,” says senior researcher for economic and social rights at the Human Rights Commission, Cameron Jacobs. “Corporates are going to be corporates, their bottom line is to create wealth,” says Jacobs, who believes that involvement from government in terms of directing social responsibility is needed. “Government needs to intervene or we are in danger of human rights becoming transactional. Access to the poor will increase profit for business but we need to ensure that we adhere to human rights standards.”

Accessing the poor goes beyond handouts, says Tagbo Agbazue, Co-ordinator of the Human Rights and Business Project – South Africa at the African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC). “We need to be asking what the products and services are that can provide a leverage point for the poor to learn how to sustain themselves.” According to Agbazue it’s about creating an enabling environment; “We need to come up with ideas and innovation that unlocks and opens up a market environment that supports the poor.”

Faced with a crippling electricity shortage in Uganda, Motorola launched their Motopower project. The project, which allows people to charge their phones for free through solar panels, identified 50 previously unemployed local women to run their kiosks. Besides being a clever marketing ploy, the project not only provided business training and seed capital for the women, but also enabled the community to deal with the challenges of not having access to a reliable energy source, which in turn could adversely affect their bottom line in terms of running sustainable and competitive business in that region.

Locally, Visa International launched their financial literacy programme. The industrial theatre project, which set out to educate the unbanked and newly banked in their own vernacular, partnered with their member banks, in a step towards providing educated access to banking for the poor. The roadshow, which traveled across the country to a number of rural areas, gave basic education around banking, fraud and card security.

While industries may be making headways in some areas, particularly in telecommunications, banking, pharmaceuticals and agri-business, legislation and the regulatory environment may be hampering such progress. “How can someone living in a township open a bank account when they can’t provide a street address or utility bill,” Agbazue asks.

“Currently the market is predominantly anti-poor, it doesn’t work for poor people at a micro or macro level. Just throwing money at the issue of poverty is not enough,” says Pat Pillai, founder and CEO of Life College, an organisation that offers character education, real life projects and leadership education to individuals and families.  “To make markets truly sustainable, so that we can start to eat away at this monster called poverty, we need macro-economic policy, government, big business, communities, individuals and families to tie into building an abundance mentality,” says Pillai.

“More and more companies are looking at their external suppliers,” says Valerie Geen, Director of the National Business Initiative, “they are looking at ways to engage constructively with the communities in which they operate.” Successful partnerships between the formal and non-formal sector are not as a result of compliance to BEE charters, “companies have realised, it’s not just about focusing on charters but about building sustainable business and moving beyond compliance. It’s not about giving money but actively engaging with that sector and sharing knowledge and skills,” she says. “There is a fundamental point of departure from the way we usually think about the role of business in communities,” says Paul Kapelus, former CEO of AICC and a consultant with Synergy Global.

Kapelus argues that businesses need to be asking if the products being developed are useful to the poor. “Business needs to learn how to listen to the poor, how to engage with the poor. They need to understand the world in which the poor operate, they need to be asking how they can add value?”