5 Social Effects Of Business From Eva Muraya

VENTURES AFRICA – Entrepreneurism may be first and foremost about making money, but business can also be levered to fixing social problems and socially developing the countries in which it is conducted. Eva Muraya is the CEO of Brand Strategy & Development (BSD) Ltd, a leading regional brand strategy development agency. Though an innovative businesswoman, there is more to Muraya than sheer moneymaking. She is a co-founder of the Kenya Association of Women Business Owners, a forum where women in business come together to discuss pertinent issues. She also chairs the Zawadi Africa Education Program, which provides scholarships for needy, academically-talented young African women. Passionate about women’s economic empowerment, mentorship of youth and helping children with special needs, she is at the forefront of the movement to mobilise business in fixing social ills in Africa. Below are some of her thoughts on how business can make Africa a better place.

Alleviating poverty

“Business creation provides that opportunity for people to have gainful employment, and people can therefore support themselves by providing shelter and food and health for their families. I’ve seen that through my business. We begin to say no to poverty and begin to redeem the dignity of the citizens by virtue of creating business opportunity.”

“I think the most sustainable way is for opportunity to be created, so that people can engage in enterprise… If you had employed five people, if your business grows, then you will then employ twelve and eighteen and thirty, and a hundred. It’s happened in my business experience. A hundred families are being supported by Color Creations to date, directly. I haven’t even begun to talk about the families supported by the creditors and suppliers that I work with, or the other stakeholders in my business. That’s just one business.”

Empowering women

“We can do a lot more to involve women in business, they’re the closest in providing a solution concerning education, health nutrition, shelter.”

Providing a new spiritualism

“There is a place in the economics of society, that must take on a spiritual dimension. It is the way it was meant to be, for us to leverage our communities out of poverty.”

Marrying the state with the private sector

“The state has its role in creating a more enabling environment, but I think private sector has the bigger role in applying the best business principles. So that growth of enterprise is exponential, and it grows and grows, and we begin to drive the bottom of the pyramid the other way around … because it is possible. It has worked in other societies and it can work for Africa.”

Encouraging Africans to dream

“It’s got to be the people who must live their dream. People must live their vision. People without vision surely will perish.”