{"id":51535,"date":"2026-10-07T15:58:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T12:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/?p=51535"},"modified":"2026-10-08T15:40:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T12:40:59","slug":"when-the-wind-changes-social-enterprises-must-adapt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/en_gb\/when-the-wind-changes-social-enterprises-must-adapt\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Wind Changes, Social Enterprises Must Adapt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" 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class=\"slides\"><li class=\"image\"><span class=\"lazyload fusion-image-hover-element hover-type-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web1.webp\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web1.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-51536\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201200%20675%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web1-200x113.webp 200w, 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srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201200%20675%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web3-200x113.webp 200w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web3-400x225.webp 400w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web3-600x338.webp 600w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web3-800x450.webp 800w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web3.webp 1200w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/span><\/li><li class=\"image\"><span class=\"lazyload fusion-image-hover-element hover-type-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web4.webp\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web4.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-51539\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201200%20675%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web4-200x113.webp 200w, 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data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web5.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-51540\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201200%20675%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web5-200x113.webp 200w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web5-400x225.webp 400w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web5-600x338.webp 600w, 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data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/span><\/li><li class=\"image\"><span class=\"lazyload fusion-image-hover-element hover-type-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web7.webp\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web7.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-51542\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201200%20675%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web7-200x113.webp 200w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web7-400x225.webp 400w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web7-600x338.webp 600w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web7-800x450.webp 800w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web7.webp 1200w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/span><\/li><li class=\"image\"><span class=\"lazyload fusion-image-hover-element hover-type-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web8.webp\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web8.webp\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-51543\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201200%20675%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271200%27%20height%3D%27675%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web8-200x113.webp 200w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web8-400x225.webp 400w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web8-600x338.webp 600w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web8-800x450.webp 800w, https:\/\/sbs.strathmore.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/When-the-Wind-Changes-Social-Enterprises-Must-Adapt-web8.webp 1200w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/span><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sewing machine was probably the last place anyone expected to find a lesson about Africa\u2019s social enterprise economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inside an ordinary classroom in Boko, Tanzania, sewing machines sat on desks as young women learned the practical business of turning cloth into a livelihood. Then there was another student: an older woman, old enough to be the grandmother of some of those around her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She was not standing at the front of the room. She was not there to supervise the younger women. She was sitting at a sewing machine, learning.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was something quietly radical about the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At an age when many people might regard their working lives as largely complete, she had chosen to acquire a new skill. She had accepted, perhaps more clearly than many entrepreneurs do, a simple truth: the world changes, and sometimes survival depends on being willing to change with it.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Rev. Dr. Fr. Silvano Ochuodho, Pro-Chancellor of Strathmore University, the encounter offered a different way of understanding resilience: not merely the ability to withstand hardship, but the willingness to recognise when circumstances have changed and begin again.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That distinction matters enormously in Africa and for Consecrated Women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across the continent, millions of livelihoods are built around small enterprises, informal businesses, community initiatives, and organisations that attempt to solve social problems with limited resources. These enterprises operate in economies where access to capital can be difficult, infrastructure is uneven, markets are fragmented, and technology changes rapidly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time, African entrepreneurs are confronting changing consumer behaviour, climate pressures and increasingly competitive markets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In such an environment, resilience is often celebrated as the ability to keep going. But keep going towards what?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is the question.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A business can survive for years and still be moving in the wrong direction. An enterprise can be deeply committed to a community and still run out of money. An organisation can continue delivering a service while the needs of its customers change around it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Resilience, therefore, cannot simply mean refusing to give up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes it means changing course.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Africa\u2019s Entrepreneurs Cannot Control the Wind<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is an old lesson from the East African coast that offers a useful metaphor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For centuries, dhow traders crossing the Indian Ocean learned to navigate according to seasonal winds. They could not control the wind. Their skill lay in reading it, adjusting their sails and preparing their cargo for the journey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That metaphor feels particularly relevant to African enterprise today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An entrepreneur in Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Kampala or elsewhere cannot determine interest rates. A small agricultural enterprise cannot control the weather. A social enterprise cannot dictate what customers will want next year. A local manufacturer cannot stop technology from changing the competitive landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But it can pay attention.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can understand its customers, manage its resources, acquire new skills and develop partnerships that make adaptation possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For African enterprises, this is not an abstract management principle. It is a condition of survival.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mission may remain constant. The method may have to change.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Social Mission cannot Pay Every Bill<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dilemma becomes sharper when we talk about social enterprises.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across Africa, social enterprises and mission-driven organisations, such as those of Consecrated Women, are working in education, healthcare, agriculture, skills development, financial services and community development. Faith-based organisations are particularly significant actors in this landscape, running schools, health facilities, farms, vocational centres and other social ministries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But social purpose does not exempt an organisation from economic reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A vocational centre still needs equipment. A health facility needs qualified personnel and supplies. A school needs resources. A farm needs inputs and customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good intentions are not a business model.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That does not mean that every African social enterprise should become a conventional profit-making company. It means that social impact requires a foundation capable of sustaining it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is particularly important in an environment where many development initiatives have historically depended heavily on grants, philanthropy or external support. The long-term question is not simply how to obtain the next round of funding, but how to build enterprises and institutions capable of creating and retaining value.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What Problem are we Solving Better than Before?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Boko, tailoring can mean skills, dignity and a pathway towards livelihoods. In agriculture, innovation may mean adapting production to climate pressures. In financial technology, it may mean making financial services more accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most useful innovation is therefore not necessarily the most sophisticated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the one that responds to a real need.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That matters in Africa because development challenges are often deeply local. A solution imported from elsewhere may be technologically impressive and still fail because it does not fit the community, the market or the realities of everyday life.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Know the Customer, not only the Cause<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is another uncomfortable lesson for social entrepreneurs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An enterprise can be addressing a genuine social problem and still fail because it has not understood its market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who needs the product? Who will pay for it? What alternatives already exist? How is demand changing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These are commercial questions, but they are also social-impact questions. If the enterprise disappears, the service may disappear with it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The same applies to finance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For African SMEs, the problem is not simply the absence of capital. The financing has to fit the enterprise. Entrepreneurs need to know what the money will achieve and whether the business can sustainably meet its obligations. Financial institutions, meanwhile, need to understand the realities of the enterprises they finance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Finance should therefore become a conversation about risk, opportunity and sustainability rather than simply a transaction.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Africa cannot Build Alone<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No enterprise can navigate these pressures entirely on its own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A farmer may have a product but lack access to buyers. A vocational centre may have willing students but need better equipment. A young entrepreneur may have an idea but lack finance, technical knowledge or market connections.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Partnerships can bridge those gaps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Universities, governments, financial institutions, private companies, development organisations and communities all occupy different parts of the ecosystem. The real value of networking is not the business card exchanged at a conference. It is what happens afterwards: a market opens, a mentor appears, financing becomes possible, technology is shared or an idea becomes a viable enterprise.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Courage to Begin Again<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the most powerful image remains the woman at the sewing machine.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She did not command the circumstances around her. She simply recognised that there was something new to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That may be the deeper lesson for Africa\u2019s social enterprise economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The continent\u2019s entrepreneurs will continue to encounter changing markets, technological disruption, climate pressures and financing constraints. They cannot control all of these forces.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But they can become better at reading them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Resilience should mean the ability to adapt without abandoning purpose; to innovate without chasing fashion; to seek finance without surrendering sustainability; and to build partnerships without losing independence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dhow sailor does not command the wind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sailor reads it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And when the wind changes, the sail must change too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That is not abandoning the journey.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is how the journey continues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<strong>Article by Alex Okoth<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":51542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,96],"tags":[457],"class_list":["post-51535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sbvp-news","tag-sbvp-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.2.1 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - 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