Are you a Paul?
Talk at JumpStart Alumni Conference
Thursday 4th July 2013
3 pm – 5:30 pm
Randpark Golf Club
Agenda
Good afternoon everyone, my name is Darryl Pitt and I am part of our organisation called We Believe in Africa.
First of all, I would like to thank Steve and JumpStart for allowing me to share with you all some of the work we are doing and key learning that we have stumbled across.
We Believe in Africa is a strategic fundraiser for all schools in South Africa, our vision to attract the funding will allow us to raise the bar of education in South Africa to a First Class Level. We are currently running a service called Legacy in two of South Africa’s provinces, in which we invite all past students, parents and citizens of South Africa to invest a minimum of R20 per month in a school of their choice.
We partner up with each school governing body, which decides where the fund with be directed and invested via three categories, namely student development, teacher development and infrastructural development. We Believe that every child deserves first-class education today and we are raising the funds to make it happen. We are partnering up with every public school in South Africa and creating a network around each school to fund improvement at each school.
I would like to share one learning that we stumbled across while working with Steve and Graham.
I would like to introduce you to Paul. <slide>
Paul grew up in Khayelitsha and was raised by his granny. His fondest memory of his childhood was how his granny inspired him. She was an entrepreneur who supported the whole family, he recalls how he used to help his granny sell fruit and clothing and how he made it exciting with his talkative personality.
Paul met Graham Bingham at Varsity, where Graham was his management tutor back in 2009.
At the end of that year Paul and a friend Langa started an organization called Unako, because of their background, of having matriculated in government schools, they lacked many resources and leadership skills because of their poorly managed school. So they saw the opportunity to bring career opportunities, bursaries and job creations to schools in the community.
Because of Graham’s relationship with Paul, We Believe in Africa with the help of Jump Start, started Legacy in Cape Town by hiring Paul to lead the program in Khayelitsha.
Paul is passionate about the project and feels it is very empowering and it creates opportunities within the school & the communities. “It brings trade & the spirits of ubuntu, seeing people with little contribute so that they can change their lives,” says Paul. He believes it is a remarkable and exciting project to be part of this project & be the change for a better society.
Paul’s dream is to have the legacy project to be involved with one school in the following communities: Gugulethu, Langa, Delft, Phillip and Nyanga. He believes in this way legacy can create employment and get a community working together as one. Paul believes with a better quality of education in our schools, will give kids the correct resource and a safer schooling environment that is inviting to learners and teachers.
Paul is currently 27 years young and dreams of being a successful businessperson and empowering others to achieve their dreams and creating employment to reduce poverty and crime in our communities.
Does anyone here know a Paul? Or is it a Paul or a female version of Paul?
Grew up in the township?
Raised by your grandmother?
See an opportunity to contribute to the betterment of another life and the community?
For the past five months, Paul has been working in Khayelitsha expanding Legacy, at Nkazimlo Primary School.
I would like to share 3 points with you about 5 months of working with Paul thus far.
1. Connect
Always be connecting with people. How Legacy got to be active in Khayelitsha, was by Steve and myself both presenting our programs at a school governing body meeting in Eldorado Park and exchanging contact details and a few months later, we have empowered a person in another province to empower a school and community to a whole new outlook on education and funding. Paul is currently working with various stakeholders in the community, from the local radio station, local newspaper, forums and parents sharing his school’s desire for better education, just by connecting every day.
2. Contribute / Ownership
Taking responsibility for your life. I would like to share with you the paper concept, one person walks past a paper and another person picks it up and deposits it into a bin. One person is waiting for another person do to something about a problem and another person is creating or finding a solution for it. Paul is leading Legacy in Khayelitsha, he wakes up every day with a purpose, we speak every day on the phone and he makes it happen. 90% of what is happening in Khayelitsha is Paul’s ideas and energy. Take ownership of your life and dreams.
3. Relationship
So Paul has been campaigning in his community for 5 months now. After 4 months we had 3 individuals contributing to the school’s Legacy fund and in the 5th month bang, we have jumped to over 200 Legend’s contributing. <slide> How does one jump from 3 people to over 200 in a month…. in monetary terms for an income of R85 per month to R6000! Relationships! Many people don’t see the four months of hard work! It comes down to relationships. Relationships are the blood of life! Did you know, and you can look into your personal lives for proof, did you know that you can track any success or failure in your life to a relationship you had or have…..
Always be focused on building relationships in your personal lives and business/careers.
The vision for Nkazimlo Primary School is to build a school hall on the premise and with R6039.57 in the bank, we have a long way to go and we are not stopping!! We still have plans to empower Paul further and allow him to move closer to his dreams and have a Legacy at more schools. <slide>
If you would like to get involved to assist Paul, a school or our school, please come and speak to me.
In closing, be like Paul, always be connecting, taking ownership and building relationship.
I would like to close with one question.
Are you a Paul?
First year milestones
Legacy Launch
25 July 2011
Door 2 Door Campaigns
14 August 2011
School Fun Day
29 August 2011
Art Material Investment
1 November 2011
Legacy Key points
• We Believe Africa invited all previous students, parents and citizens of South Africa and from around the world to invest a minimum of R20 per month into a school in South Africa with Legacy.
• The investments went into the development of the school via School Governing Body’s (SGB) decision and choices.
The SGB would decide what are critical needs of the school, divided into 3 areas:
o School Infrastructure Upgrades,
o Staff Development or
o Student Development.
• Legacy was run free of charge at each school we worked with.
• Legacy first and fundamentally supported only business and service providers (With are in the GDE {Gauteng Department of Education}
network) within a 10 kilometer radius of each school or current parents of students at the school’s businesses.
• The school and their SGBs did not receive any funds directly, We Believe in Africa distributed the school’s funds on the school behave.
• R5 rand of every investment goes to the banking charges and leadership fees of We Believe in Africa.
(R2.10 per collection debt charge by South African banks)
• The funding options available were done via debt orders, EFT’s and a secure cash drop box at each school.
• We Believe in Africa is registered as a Not For Profit Organisation and is currently being registered as a Public Benefit Organisation.
• We Believe in Africa’s vision was to allow every child in South Africa to have access to first-class education by 2020.
• We Believe in Africa’s vision was to develop a monthly income of R100 000 per month for every school in South Africa, enabling each school to be on its path to being First Class.