The main goal behind this study is to develop a collaboration platform, which will facilitate mutually beneficial partnerships between individuals operating in South Africa’s BOP and organisations interested in BOP markets, in an attempt to breach the gap between developed and developing South Africa. As described in chapter 4, this is something which can be done through improved education and skills development initiatives. Education which, as have been discussed in chapter 2, is currently one of the greatest challenges preventing South Africa from breaching the gap between developed and developing markets. This would therefore be the greatest challenge which needed to be addressed through the platform. Nethertheless, as explained in chapter 2, the implication of the nation’s lacking education and skills development initiatives, stretches beyond the challenge itself. It is creating other challenges in its wake which would definitely impact the design of the platform and would therefore also have to be addressed. These challenges are summarised in Figure 15 below.
Figure 15 - Challenges other than education which the platform also needed to address
Although the platform focused mostly on the underlying educational challenge, these challenges also had to be considered to ensure that a sustainable solution was developed, which could actually be used by the individuals in limited resourced communities, as well as the organisations who are interested in entering these markets.
5.4.1 Functional Models
According to BioTRIZ methodology, there are different functional models (Bogatyrev et al. 2014) for different challenges.
Limited access to funding: Individuals in limited resourced communities do not have
access to a lot of funding and would not really be able to afford the platfrom [Ch 2].
High Unemployment rates: Most individauls in limited resourced communities are
unemployed and have very little to keep themselves productively busy with. [Ch 2].
Crime: The crime level in limited resourced communites are very high, which could
potentially leave the platfrom vulnerable [Ch 2].
Lacking Trust: Due to the high crime level and no official system through which
individuals can be held accountable for their actions, trust is a real issue [Ch 2].
Limited access to technology: Despite the initiatives on the horizon to provide free Wi-Fi
to members in limited resourced communities, these communities still have very llimited access to technology through which the platfrom can be deployed [Ch 2].
Communication barriers: Due to the limited technology, it is still difficult to communicate
with individuals in limited resourced communities other than physically meeting them on a regular basis [Ch 2].
Colalboration challenges: Due to the communication barriers it is also difficult to ensure
effective collaboration between individuals and organisations [Ch 2] .
Lacking motivation: Due to the high unemployment rate, crime and poverty the platfrom
would have to be proven to the individuals in limited resourced communities before they will be motivated to use the platform on a daily basis [Ch 2]
Lacking infrastructure: There are very limited infrastucture through or from which the
platform can be deployed [Ch 2].
Lacking knowledge: Individuals would have to be educated on how the platfrom can be
used and why it would make sense for them to do so. All information to do this would have to be made available [Ch2].
The challenges which the platform was designed to address have a missing useful function. Education is simply too expensive or too difficult for many individuals in South Africa’s BOP to access (Centre for Education Development Policy 2009). Therefore, although there might be an educational system which should be working, the reality is that many South African’s do not have access to this system. This leads to boredom and students having too much time on their hands to be counterproductive, as well as a very limited understanding of the role the individual has to play within society. There are also no formal system which holds individuals accountable for their actions and there are very little physical and technological infrastructure which enables individuals to develop these systems on their own, especially when considering the absence of efficient education which would serve as the building blocks to allow for this to happen [Ch 2].
The challenges which the platform was designed to address also have an insufficient outcome since education does not lead to guaranteed employment for the individual. Many individuals who do have education are still unemployed and have no idea how they can apply their skills and knowledge in a meaningful way. This also makes it difficult for organisations to meet individuals in limited resourced communities halfway in an attempt to realise much needed initiatives in these communities. The initiatives by local government to address these challenges is also not succeeding in their efforts [Ch 2].
Furthermore, the challenges also have useful and harmful function since education might help individuals to develop their skills and knowledge in a way which will allow them to earn a better living for themselves and their family members, but at the same time South Africa’s BOP often have to use already limited resources to pay expensive school fees. The resources which is used for inefficient education could be applied with greater impact elsewhere, helping to care for hungry or sick family members [Ch 2].
5.4.2 Existing Solutions
There exist a few existing solutions to these challenges, but none addressing the entire scope of the problem. Conventional educational systems include schools, colleges and universities. All three these entities are trying to reach South Africa’s BOP, but faces various challenges in doing so. Schools require students to invest at least twelve years of their life and a lot of school fees to obtain a matric certificate, which can be argued is the lowest level of formally acknowledged education in South Africa. Unfortunately having matric does not necessarily guarantee an individual a job anywhere and the job opportunities which matric might open for the individual are often not very stimulating work [Ch 2].
After obtaining matric an individual can continue with further education in an attempt to obtain a diploma or a degree. This would require another three or more years to obtain and is much more expensive to obtain than matric. According to the statistics mentioned in
section 1.3 only wealthy citizens can really afford further tertiary education and is therefore not a viable solution for BOP citizens who cannot obtain bursaries to do so [Ch2].
There are also other initiatives by NGOs and governmental bodies who aims to educate individuals in South Africa’s BO. These courses too are expensive, are very limited, happens on an ad hoc basis and is not necessarily aligned with an individual’s interest.
There are various opportunities for individuals to obtain online education for free, but during the time the author spent in Khayelitsha, he experienced that individuals have little knowledge about the existence of such initiatives and do not necessarily understand the workings behind these systems. Online education can also be very isolating and is not necessarily tailored to fit the circumstances of the individual’s specific environment.