At Sibesonke, we used our BOPinion tool to hear the voices of those people most difficult to reach, to uncover some of the truth behind the World Cup’s economic impact at the base of the pyramid. We asked our Sibesonke

community about two economic issues. Firstly we asked for their opinions during the tournament relating to money making opportunities, and then again once the tournament had finished, this time about the reality of their investments. The results provided great insight into the hopes and realities of the World Cup’s economic impact. This entry will discuss the thoughts of the community during the tournament, and our next blog will focus on the actual economic results to see if the initial optimism and hope that South Africans had was matched by actual reality.

 

We asked our community three questions. The first was whether money making opportunities would arise for South Africans during the World Cup. Over 90% said Yes! 94.9% to be precise. Just 5.1% thought that there would be no money making opportunities. Many people thought everyone would be able to make money, and there was a cautious minority who thought that money would be made, but only by large businesses.

Focusing more on individual experiences, we asked if our survey participants or their families had made money because of the world cup. These results shed a little light on the trend that initial optimism may not be matched reality. Just under half of those asked said they had not made any money. And just over 10% of all participants even said that they had lost money due to the World Cup. Well over half had had negative experiences based on their initial expectations. However, it was not all bad news as about 40% had made money during the tournament.

The third questioned focused on life after the World Cup, and more specifically on what will things be like once the closing ceremony is complete and the football is over. There was still a relatively large degree of optimism with about 40% thinking things will be better. But the majority thought things will either go back to how they were (about 40%), or that government spending will even be reduced (about 20%).

The full results are shown below.