5. Companies can't succeed in countries that fail.
Freeplay has lots of strategic challenges to overcome -- raising money, cracking upscale retailers in rich countries, working with aid agencies to distribute radios in poor countries. So why take on the extra challenge of staffing its factories with ex-cons? "Crime is the single-biggest obstacle to the success of a democratic South Africa," says Stear. "Business here can't just pay lip service to stopping crime. And the only way to begin to stop crime is to create jobs. If our company can do that, then so can a whole lot of other companies."
Cheryl Dahle (cdahle@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer. Learn more about Freeplay on the Web (www.freeplay.net) or contact Rory Stear (stearbpg@iafrica.com) and Christopher Staines (staines@iafrica.com) by email.
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