Transforming a lost generation of HIV orphans into the next generation of leaders in Africa

By Abigail Noble, Community Manager, Schwab Foundation

Entrepreneurs are people who persevere through seemingly impossible challenges, often testing their ability to overcome fear. Andrew Muir, 2011 Ernst & Young South African Social Entrepreneur of the Year, performs this feat on a daily basis. In addition to having led the Wilderness Foundation for the past decade, Andrew has lived with a stutter forcing him to power through each and every sentence he speaks.

Last Thursday evening, he stood up in front of over 300 people in Johannesburg to receive this award from Ernst & Young and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Andrew humbly accepted the prize remarking that “the thing about asking a stutter-er to deliver a speech is that he may not be done by the end of dessert, but rather by breakfast the next morning.”

Andrews passion and commitment to persevere through his own challenges has helped him build the Wilderness Foundation into an innovative and scalable social enterprise that is protecting biodiversity, creating young leaders and helping the private sector to engage responsibly in the community. Among the programmes that the Wilderness Foundation runs, three are highlighted below:

1. The Wilderness Foundation created Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve, one of the largest protected areas of wilderness in Africa. To do this, it first organized community interests and met with private sector leaders and then worked with the government to pass legislation. UNESCO has since declared Baviaanskloof a world heritage site. This is a significant step forward in cross-sector community-driven conservation in Africa.
2. The Umzi Wethu programme trains orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in environmental conservation and ecotourism, providing them not only with job skills as game rangers and chefs but also with a meaningful connection to their cultural and natural heritage. The Wilderness Foundation has touched thousands of OVCs, inspiring them not only to follow their dreams despite setbacks but also to care deeply about the environment and the richness of their heritage.

   In countries such as Swaziland, the HIV infection rate is estimated to be a high as 50% among young adults. Across sub-Saharan Africa, millions of OVCs become heads of households when their parents die of AIDS. For many orphans, life revolves around daily survival: they focus on having enough to eat and being able to provide for their younger siblings. Instead of finishing secondary school, they spend their days looking for food and working for whatever money they can get. Lacking formal skills and a basic knowledge of their rights, they are often exploited and become disconnected from their cultural heritage and their relationship to the land.

   With the Wilderness Foundation, the OVCs learn how to survive in the outdoors as well as to lead lives of integrity on inner city streets and in townships. This is an important investment in Africa`s next generation, transforming disempowerment which can yield socio-economic and political instability and instead creating a class of young leaders with integrity and the capacity to lead.

3. The Green Leaf Standard, used in more than 15 countries and adopted by several of the most highly regarded hotel chains and boutique game resorts in Africa, measures a business’s environmental impact and community engagement. For certified companies to maintain the Green Leaf Standard, they must decrease their environmental footprint each and every year by 5%, making the Green Leaf Standard a dynamic tool which promotes continual improvement. Like Fair Trade and LEED, the Green Leaf Standard is an important tool in changing the way corporations approach decision-making and accountability for responsible environmental and community practices.

Andrew is acutely aware that Africa`s historic and ongoing role as a provider of natural resources to the industrialized world, as well as its emerging position as a consumption market in its own right, poses risks and challenges for the future of sustainable growth in Africa. Moreover, as the magnitude of the HIV crisis and environmental degradation in Africa intensifies, there is greater need for broader coordination and commitment to ensure a positive future.

Over the past week, we have read about how the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation is helping shape the dialogue with governments, capital providers and academics to bring social innovation to scale, harness investment capital for good and change legal and regulatory frameworks to promote social businesses. The outcome of these conversations is critical for innovative and impactful organizations like the Wilderness Foundation, and thousands of other social enterprises around the world to continue to deliver on their vision for a better future.

As we learn from Andrew`s leadership, we may encounter setbacks and it may take us longer to finish what we started, but if we persevere, we will make it to breakfast tomorrow… and for many breakfasts in the foreseeable future.