The significance of faith based enterprises in the dual roles of social good and economic development in Kenya

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the impact of Faith based enterprises in their dual role of building social good and economic development in Kenya. A review of the literature reveals the absence of a coherent conceptual framework onthe success or failure of these enterprises. From the twenty-four published articles reviewed, forming the basis of the paper, it was evident that the impact of faith based enterprises extends beyond what is conceptualized as social enterprise across different faiths. Empirical studies identify application of entrepreneurial factors of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk taking as central to the performance and sustainability of social enterprises, thus spurring the growth of social entrepreneurship. The crucial dilemma to social entrepreneurship remains how to measure its performance due to the non-quantifiability of some of its social value deliverables. The paper concludes by suggesting various variables namely: entrepreneurial orientation factors, environment (internal and external) factors and their relationships from the literature as a source for further research. This would enrich the understanding of social entrepreneurship and its anecdotes of the performance of Faith based organizations for social value deliveries, and economic development of communities. Some of the practical policy implications include: development of a public private partnership to solve some of cross cutting social problems through enterprises;and building of linkages with innovation centers to enhance social enterprise activities. Implications for Faith based entrepreneurship theory and management practice are discussed.