Business

South Africa

ACTIVE:
2022 – Present
TRAVEL DATES:
May 14 – June 8, 2024
GENERAL INFO:
Through Mercer On Mission, students and faculty play a part in combating homelessness in Cape Town, South Africa. Each summer, they spend three weeks working with nonprofit organization Streetscapes to make its services for the homeless population more sustainable.

Meeting a Need

Over 14,000 people are estimated to be homeless in Cape Town, and half of those are considered to be chronically homeless, meaning they’ve been homeless for more than one year and have a serious mental health condition or substance addiction.

For two decades, Streetscapes has taken a holistic approach to helping South Africans get off the streets by providing housing and psychosocial services, like counseling and support groups, and working through the group’s small social enterprises, including its Urban Farms Program. Mercerians support the organization’s initiatives by providing recommendations and guidance on how to make their operations more effective, efficient and sustainable so this important work can continue.

What You'll Do

Mercer faculty and students will work alongside Streetscapes staff and clients to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the Urban Farms Program as a locally grown and organic enterprise. They will use their business knowledge to evaluate the extent to which their 2023 recommendations could be implemented, assess how much they increased Streetscapes’ revenues, and work with the organization to modify these recommendations. They will measure the viability, social impact and environmental sustainability of their initiatives.

Participants will also have educational sight-seeing opportunities, including Table Mountain, Robben Island, the Cape of Good Hope and District Six.

Ashton Bearden

What I enjoyed the most was honestly working beside the clients and the upper administration there. Because when you work beside the clients, you kind of get a better idea of what they’re going through because they were homeless, and you understand how difficult it is for them, but you can also see how much their lives have changed because of this organization.

Ashton Bearden
Bachelor of Business Management, ’22, MBA, ‘23

Academic Courses

  • BUS 477 – Special Topics: Social Enterprise in the 21st Century City
  • BUS 477 – Special Topics: Accounting for Social Enterprises

Faculty

  • Harold Tessendorf – Adjunct Business Professor, Stetson-Hatcher School of Business
  • Stephanie Morris –  Senior Accounting Lecturer, Stetson-Hatcher School of Business

Latest MOM News

Interested?

Students interested in participating in a Mercer on Mission program will need to complete an online application before being considered for admission.
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