TIES BETWEEN FAMILY BUSINESS AND PHILANTHROPY

Executive summary

When Gustav Praekelt, a 30-year old entrepreneur, visited Tanzania in 2001, he was struck by how new technologies and old problems coexisted – specifically, he noticed that almost everyone had a mobile phone, but yet cholera epidemics were still erupting.

​“We realized that there was a direct relationship between health information being presented in a dry, impersonal fashion, and the low likelihood that it would be read.”

About the foundation

Date of Foundation - 2007
Founder - Gustav Praekelt
Status - NGO
Issues addressed - Poverty, health
Geographic focus - sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; Offices in South Africa, Nigeria, India and the UK
Resources given by family/firm - Competencies
Sources of financing - External grants
Ongoing family involvement - Gustav Praekelt is on the board
Professional staff - 25

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conclusion

Gustav Praekelt is on the Foundation’s board, together with a number of technical experts. His main role is as an ambassador for the Foundation’s activities, representing Praekelt at the Skoll World Forum and other high-profile social entrepreneurship forums. He is involved, like other board members, in discussions of vision, mission and strategy, but hands over operational matters to paid staff. Whilst the broad stated focus of the Praekelt Foundation is using mobile technology to tackle poverty, most activities have been health focused until now. Recently, the question of developing focus areas around women and girls, as well as financial inclusion, has come up. The questions around developing these areas are a reflection of the Foundation’s staff’s and trustees’ firm belief that their capacities can be put to use to solve the developing world’s most pressing problems.