Doing things together
Casting Corporate Social Responsibility into Shape
Alumni from de Baak's New Manager program created the UBUNTU Stichting to provide help in South Africa.
A conversation with Matthijs Hubbers, Stichting UBUNTU's treasurer
By Petra Baars
Shocked by the poverty but at the same time inspired by South Africa's determination to survive a group of alumni from the 2003 New Manager program wanted to put something together to benefit the community in that part of the world. By creating the Stichting UBUNTU, a non-profit, they support small scale projects that lead to sustainable change in someone's working life and that attain economic self-sufficiency. Help can also be offered where the need is the greatest.
Poverty everywhere ... yet entrepreneurial
"When we went to South Africa as part of our training we were deeply impressed by the determination and persistence of the people of South Africa," says Stichting UBUNTU treasurer Matthijs Hubbers. He says that there exists a cooperative mentality the like of which is unknown in Europe. "Here we're becoming more and more individualistic, but over there everybody seems to understand that it's only by working together that you can resolve social and economic problems. And they have plenty of those! White rule is still fresh in the collective memory. Violence is the order of the day, for sure in the townships, with poverty at high levels. Despite that there is a great deal of positive thinking, with many initiatives. People are literally making things out of nothing. It's incredible."
What does the Stichting UBUNTU do?
Stichting UBUNTU was set up in at the end of 2003 by Janine van Diggelen, its chairperson; Ronald Rombouts, vice-chairman; Loek Elsenburg, secretary and Matthijs Hubbers. The 20 alumni of the 'The New Manager' training course are Stichting benefactors, with each donating a fixed amount each year to the Stichting UBUNTU, under notarized agreements that were then to run for a 5 year period. Matthijs: "We support small scale businesses that expand job opportunities locally and that raise the standard of living. The idea is that, after a little help from us, these projects should become self supporting. For us, sustainability is an important defining precondition. We've financed a packaging machine, we make a contribution to Business Beat's prize for local business people (the UBUNTU Award) in Cape Town, and support training for workers in the materials processing business. We also made a contribution when 'Beautiful Gate', a center for AIDS-infected orphans, found itself forced to move to other premises."
The power of solidarity
"Loosely translated, UBUNTU means 'I am because we are'. That is what motivates both many South Africans as well as our organization. Everybody has a job that keeps them very busy, yet we meet between six and ten times a year to talk about projects we want to support, about getting fresh funds and benefactors and about our communications. We want to stay relatively small in scale, but we do want to see progressive growth. When you get too big you lose personal contact and motivation loses its edge. We operate as if we were a group of friends that use each others' networks and creativity. For us, in addition to the financial commitments we've made, it's about 'doing things together'. We want to cast our own interpretation upon our own corporate social responsibility."
A country on the move: support South Africa
"Can you imagine driving around the Netherlands with a pistol ready because otherwise it's too dangerous? Or can you imagine that only 50% of the population has mains water and power supply? Or that the kid fetching that can of cola for you will die of AIDS next year? In South Africa we've gotten to know the lower end of society. But these people want to get somewhere, they want to do something. The fine thing here is that South Africa has extraordinary potential. There are minerals and there's a growing tourist industry. They're the #2 economic power in Africa. They have a good infrastructure and stable government. With the Truth and Reconciliation Committee Nelson Mandela found the right way to begin a process of pulling together black and white, 14 language areas and different tribes into a single democratic nation. That process isn't over yet, but the power and the will to go forward is omnipresent. Surely you want to support a country like that?
Go to www.stichting-ubuntu.nl for more information.
