As we continue to collect all the individual results from the IkamvaYouth Gauteng learners, three stories in particular stand out so far:
Shelton Chadya – 5 Distinctions
Shelton first joined IkamvaYouth during 2010’s protracted Public Servants strike as he sought out a place to continue studying while his teachers weren’t teaching. His determination and commitment to his school work has paid off handsomely in that he has jumped more than two symbols in 3 of the subjects he ultimately received distinctions for. Earlier this year Shelton also won his region’s Accounting Olympiad and with these skills he intends to study a BCOM at either WITS or UJ this year. Shelton has already been working with younger learners helping them improve their understanding of their school subjects and he is now looking forward to officially joining the IkamvaYouth volunteer team this year to help others follow in his footsteps.
Nombuso Ndala – 4 Distinctions
Nombuso has been part of the furniture at IkamvaYouth this year as she has used every opportunity to work on improving her understanding of her school subjects. Often Nombuso (sometimes with fellow Ikamvanites) could be found working in the matric room trying to solve difficult problems. Nombuso has made ample use of the tutoring sessions, the learning channel and the Answers Series booklets. On discovering how she had fared on the matric exams she had this to say, “I was so over the moon to receive my results and so happy. I immediately told my mom and she started crying. I worked so hard and practiced and practiced and practiced to get these results. I am so happy.” During her time with IkamvaYouth, in addition to her 4 distinctions, Nombuso also lifted her maths mark from 32% to 62% and intends to study a BCOM at Wits this year, her mother is unemployed.
Tshepo Lesejane – 1 Distinction
When Tshepo first joined IkamvaYouth he had 39% for Maths Literacy but after two years of intensive hard work and tutoring he managed to score a distinction (over 80%) in his matric exam. This means that Tshepo has more than doubled his Maths Literacy result in the two years that he has been with IkamvaYouth – a notable achievement indeed. Tshepo hopes to work in the media industry and to study media and journalism in 2012.
There are also further notable achievements from the individual results we have collected so far:
Masabatha Rambuwani scored a distinction in Life Orientation, 73% for English (second language) and went from 30% in Accounting to 72%. Thabang Simelane also scored a distinction in Life Orientation and went from 31% in Accounting to 56%. He also went from 14% in Pure Maths to 49% (which will be submitted for a remark in search of that elusive 1%).
IkamvaYouth Gauteng learners celebrate with Joe and Zamo on receiving their results.
UCT master’s student Thobela Bixa has won the prestigious Telluride Sidgwick-Miller Scholarship for 2011/2012, an award that will allow him to further his career at the University of Michigan in the US. Based in the Department of Chemistry, Bixa is conducting research on asymmetric synthesis, which involves the use of what’s known as chiral catalysts to synthesise biologically active compounds that are potential drug leads. “The two projects (from UCT and UM) will give me a broader experience, understanding, and knowledge of asymmetric synthesis, a current hot topic in the field of organic chemistry research,” commented Bixa on the scholarship. In picture, Bixa appears with his UCT supervisor, Prof Roger Hunter.
From UCT’s News In Brief
There was reason to celebrate once more this week as resident accounting genuis and Ikamvanite Shelton Chadya achieved 1st Place in the Regional Competition of the SAIPA National Accounting Olympiad.
Shelton has been one of Ivory Park IkamvaYouth’s most committed learners and is also the Grade 12 representative on the local Branch Committee. This award is truly an exceptional achievement and few people deserve this more than Shelton whose hard work, perseverence and commitment is paying off handsomely. Of course, this week Shelton’s focus is on Maths and English as the matric exams start in earnest and he is confident his exams will go well.
Next Year Shelton plans to be studying (as you would expect) BCOM Accounting and has been accepted at both UJ and WITS. As things stand he is looking for ways to finance his degree. If, perchance, you are reading this and you know someone looking for a worthy candidiate for a scholarship, you really should look no further. We could not possibly recommend Shelton more highly so please get in touch. This is one investment that we can guarantee signfiicant returns on. Email: andrew@ikamvayouth.org for more info.
‘We’re really going places’ Drama Club
The drama club started in Masiphumelele several months ago and with their performance of a scene from Broken Promises, an exciting new book launched by non-profit Cover2Cover, they have found local fame.
They have already performed at the Masiphumelele Library, Franschoek Literacy Festival, Matthew Goniwe High School, and Open Book Festival Cape Town. Phumza Kibi is a member of the group and was asked to be the cover girl for their latest book ‘Sugar Daddy’. The posters are up in the library, at school and obviously in Phumza’s house!
Cover2cover provided each member with their own copy and profuse thanks for their involvement.
Cover2cover is a fresh new publisher dedicated to filling a need in the South African book market: popular fiction relevant to the lives of the millions of township teenagers. It is making a huge difference toward creating a culture of reading in South Africa, particularly amongst township youth. The eagerness that Ikamvanites have approached these books has been fantastic. Reading and re-reading copies that are already well-worn.
Cover2 Cover made an initial donation of 10 books to Masiphumelele Library and have been kind enough to offer a donation to other IkamvaYouth branches.
The popularity of the books and their demand has demonstrated that there is a need for relevant literature aimed at this target audience. However, these books shouldn’t just be distributed in townships as the issues raised are relevant to all teens. In a way this exciting social entrepreneurship organization could have a profound impact on the way youth in South Africa read as well as building understanding and relationships between each other. It is wonderful to be a part of such an exciting venture.
The drama club are busy scripting the whole of Jealous in Jozi so that they can put together a full drama performance – watch this space!
Ikamvanites don’t let a little thing like a petrol bomb derail us from our big vision. In fact, like Zukile and Mphumzi say in the short film about the Freedom Day attack, more power to us!
On 1 May, we spent the day at TSiBA brainstorming the first big challenge for sustainably scaling the IkamvaYouth model across the country: Where’s the $$ going to come from so that there can be an IkamvaYouth branch at every library, community centre and university campus that wants one?
Freda Grey generously volunteered her time, wisdom and expertise to facilitate (and challenge!) the stretching of imaginations as far as our risk-averse temperaments would allow. Natcom members (Andrew, Khona, Zoe, Nombu, Nico and I), board members (Leigh and Colin) and branchcom members (Phillip and Naledi), as well as one of our advisors (Eugene Daniels, the District Director of Metropole South) brainstormed numerous income opportunities and identified the ones we’d like to develop further as potential business cases.
We’ve set up a study group on the Peer-to-Peer University website for keeping the conversation going, and invite everyone with insight, opinions or ideas to get involved and contribute to the development of our strategy for sustainable scale.
The day ended on a sombre note with Eugene describing the challenges that the Education crisis presents. He noted IkamvaYouth’s innovative approach, track record and potential for scale and emphasised the urgency for reaching significantly larger numbers of learners. Watch this space or get involved in this one!
“Social entrepreneurship is an evolving space, and yet one of the most profound developments in our world today. Simply put, social entrepreneurship is about correcting an accepted social imbalance for some economic gain. I can just hear the last part of my statement still buzzing around your heads: “for some economic gain?” to which I say absolutely “for economic gain”.
Put differently, social entrepreneurship is merely shifting resources out of an area of lower productivity to higher productivity to yield greater social benefit, where the nature of the profit, be it financial or otherwise, accrues to beneficiaries typically previously excluded from the profits and benefits. This creates a more equitable equilibrium, which is dependent on there being economic benefits for the sustainability of this entrepreneurial activity.
We, Social Entrepreneurship Certificate Programme (SECP) students, couldn’t have undertaken this programme at a more relevant time. The current unrest in North Africa points, among other things, to this very imbalance which social entrepreneurs seek to address. This can also be seen right here at home with the service delivery protests that are occurring more regularly. And as people involved in the development space, it forces us to think beyond the immediate scope of our work to the wider needs within our society. One is forced to ask the question: How effectively does my work address the socially acceptable imbalances in our society today?
The unrest in North Africa also demands that business at large start to ask the same question because when the imbalances reach a tipping point and ordinary citizens’ patience wears thin it is not only the development practitioners who will be affected, all of us, all of society will be affected. Thus we need to start having conversations now and we need to begin to find solutions today. But we can’t all be social entrepreneurs.
However, business can assist social entrepreneurs to begin to devise and bring to life innovative solutions, and to roll out solutions to these problems – this is an equally important role that business can take in an attempt to create social equilibrium within society.
Credit must be given to South African business for their increased spend and focus on social responsibility, but this needs to be taken further. Social entrepreneurs bring forth sustainable solutions that often have a measurable impact and are scalable in nature, and hence have far reaching effects. As a result, investments into social entrepreneurship have a far wider reaching impact than mere corporate social investment (CSI) spend. This is by no means to discredit current CSI disbursements where there remains a need. But this forces business to start thinking more about how their money, their investment, can have greater social impact.
Social entrepreneurs are by the very nature, change agents. The SECP enabled us to better understand this role, and to become more effective and efficient in the manner of change we bring about. One of the most important lessons learnt, as budding social entrepreneurs and development practitioners, is what Jim Collins, author of the book, Good to Great, refers to as ‘Level 5 Leadership’, which is two things. Firstly, the humility to know and understand that the change we wish to bring about is bigger than our ego, and thus the mission is bigger than ourselves, in other words, that we are building a legacy which will outlive us and outgrow us while attracting the right calibre of person to take the mission to a higher level. Secondly, insight, or lessons learnt, is about having the professional will to never lose sight of the goal and mission of our work, especially when the going gets tough, which it often does, and seemingly easy solutions present themselves which would benefit the individual rather than the organisation and the mission at hand.
I dare say, this is the type of leadership required of South Africa if the innate potential of our country is to bring forth the fruits of democracy that are so desperately needed and longed for by each and every South African citizen.
On behalf of the SECP class of 2010, I extend a heartfelt thanks to the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), and especially our course convener, Amy Tekie, coordinator, Dineo Lengane, and the team of lecturers. GIBS has enabled us to not only become more effective and efficient at what we do as development practitioners and budding social entrepreneurs, but through this course we have been given a platform to grow and to confidently add our voice to the conversations on where our country needs to get to and how that can happen.
We are the leaders that South Africa needs, the SECP class of 2010 knows that a heavy duty falls upon us now to fulfill the promises enshrined in the constitution for every South African to enjoy and I quote directly from the South African Constitution:
- Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;
- Lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;
- Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and
- Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.
In closing I would like to share a quote from an unknown author, “Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical and expecting more than others think is possible.”
– This is an extract of the closing address made by Gqibelo Dandala, one of the 30 students to graduate in the Social Entrepreneurship Certificate Programme (SECP) at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria. The graduation ceremony was held on 9 March 2011. Gqibelo Dandala is founder and CEO of the Future of the African Daughter Project. Article submitted by Ann Bown, SECP lecturer.
Lloyd Lungu