Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder of the World Economic Forum and Professor Letlhokwa Mapedi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UJ. (Image supplied)
Professor Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum (WEF) founder and former president has urged local youth to pursue purposeful social entrepreneurship.
This, as the emergence of artificial intelligence (ayeAccording to Schwab, it is projected to create new categories of social entrepreneurship.
He made the comments during a public lecture at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Friday, which was hosted by UJ Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Letlhokwa Mapedi.
Social entrepreneurship is the practice of creating and running businesses or organizations that aim to solve social, environmental, or community problems while generating enough income to sustain their operations.
Unlike traditional businesses, which focus primarily on maximizing profits, social enterprises use business principles to create positive social impact. Unlike charities, they usually earn at least part of their income through the sale of products or services, rather than relying solely on donations.
Based on the most recent quarterly labor force survey conducted by Statistics SA, South Africa's national unemployment rate increased to 32.7% in the first quarter.
Most of the youth still bear 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, including digital Skills limitations have raised fears that this will lead to severe unemployment in the country.
However, the WEF founder says that South Africa is gradually developing the notion of social entrepreneurship to meet some of the challenges ahead, with research showing that there are 198,000 social entrepreneurs (social enterprises) in the country.
For example, these are Said Collectively supporting approximately 393,000 jobs and are particularly active in sectors such as education, health care and civic engagement.
intelligent era revolution
In terms of how social entrepreneurship will evolve in the intelligent age, Schwab believes it involves two main areas.
“First of all, when we look at AI, we will see many jobs replaced. The World Economic Forum under my leadership has produced the annual Future of Jobs report and we can roughly say that about one-quarter of jobs in the more industrialized countries will become redundant. Another quarter will require substantial skill upgrading to enable people to survive in the job market.
“So, where do we create? We cannot create a society without jobs. Where are the needs? The needs are also social sectors. It is health care and education etc. We should create many more social entrepreneurs, and there are fantastic opportunities. I think today there is a new class of social entrepreneurs who use new technologies for social good.
“My appeal is to become a social entrepreneur; you may make less money, but you can say one day that your life was very purposeful, satisfying and impactful.”
Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and former Chairman of the World Economic Forum. (Image source: WEF)
WEF is an international organization that brings together stakeholders from global society, government, business, civil society and science. It is known for its annual meeting in Davos, which convenes political, business and academic leaders to discuss global issues.
During the public lecture, Schwab and MPED also discussed the transition from the digital age to the intelligent age, emphasizing the transformative impact of AI and quantum computing.
Schwab highlighted the need for leadership to counter technological advances by focusing on human qualities. He also stressed the importance of universities evolving from transmission of knowledge to lifelong learning and certification. He called for professors to become trainers and co-create knowledge with students, aiming for a more interactive and creative educational system.
He also provided his forecast for South Africa, noting that the country faces some major challenges even after democracy.
“For South Africa and Africa, I am optimistic, because the intelligent age allows young people to become entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs in the physical world. South Africa and Africa in general have such an intelligent, hungry youth population, so new technologies provide an opportunity to leapfrog.
“If South Africa is able to develop the best systems to foster innovation, to foster entrepreneurship, it will have a big future. But such a world system involves many different components, and education is very important.”