Purpose The purpose of this paper is to probe whether the quest for sustainability in financial social enterprise institutions leads to mission drift. Both formal and informal institutions play an important role as interventions to promote inclusion. They struggle between an explicit social mission and the implicit quest for sustainability. The debate remains on whether such organisations can achieve financial sustainability without compromising outreach. Design/methodology/approach The study uses interviews and focus group discussions in nine different hybrid organisations involved in providing different types of financial services in Swaziland. Findings The results suggest that smaller and informal enterprises tend to have less mission drift. Their risk mitigation and management approaches such as group liability and use of traditional governance structures are more adapted to the characteristics of the groups served. The modus operandi of larger enterprises tends to mimic mainstream lenders with risk mitigation measures that are inherently unsustainable for this type of market. Research limitations/implications Sustainability in financial enterprises requires new contextualised models of risk management and client selection more appropriate for excluded groups. Moreover, using group lending as a measure of outreach maybe flawed. Other forms of social capital can be used to increase outreach even in the absence of group lending. The perceived trade-off between commercial gain and outreach is somewhat complex. Mission drift seems to depend on the capital structure. Originality/value The paper contributes to an infant but important debate on how sustainability can be achieved without compromising outreach in financial institutions designed to increase financial inclusion.

This paper provides an overview of the intellectualization of the indigenous languages of South Africa through a translation of academic texts and using isiZulu by way of example. The intellectualization of a language means the advancement, upliftment, and enrichment of a language, enabling it for use in different domains as a language of research, science and technology, and teaching and learning. The point of departure for this paper is the value of translation as an enabler for the intellectualization of languages. Using Nord’s functionalist theory, this paper seeks to provide an overview of the process of translation of doctoral abstracts from English into isiZulu as a contribution towards the intellectualization of isiZulu at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. The aim of this qualitative study, therefore, was to explore the intricacies involved in the journey to the intellectualization of languages that belong to different language families, specifically English and isiZulu. The data used were 12 doctoral dissertation abstracts randomly selected from a pool of abstracts from various disciplines submitted for translation from English into isiZulu at UKZN as part of the initiative of intellectualizing isiZulu. The study established an acknowledgment of the intricacies involved in the translation of academic texts and suggests possible practices to be followed to contribute successfully to the intellectualization of indigenous languages of South Africa, isiZulu in particular.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract