Focusing on human metrics will close the digital divide.

By Claudio Coelho, Founder and CEO at Backspace Technologies

Here’s the truth about how connectivity is seen broadly. Walk into any boardroom and you will hear comforting numbers. 99.9% uptime and megabits per second north of 100. C-suites might talk about ironclad SLAs.

On paper this all looks flawless. But consider this: in the real world those numbers mean nothing to a child in an informal settlement who has no access to a fibre line or to a factory worker whose family is stuck on expensive cellular data that runs out before the month does.

If we are honest, the South African connectivity industry has spent years fighting for the same slice of the affluent pie while the majority of the country, people who genuinely need the opportunities that being connected enables, remain priced out, or to put it more bluntly, locked out. We would do well to reframe our focus, to cast our gaze if only for a moment, away from those who have connectivity towards those who have very little or no affordable connectivity at all. It’s about appreciating the gap between KPIs and lived reality.

Are we happy with the status quo?

An obsession with technical metrics is mirrored inside many companies too. Skills shortages – especially in the IT industry – have turned hiring into a desperate scramble. Companies poach skilled technicians from one another at premium rates, only to watch in horror when culture dissipates as new technicians cannot work in teams, cannot adapt to challenging conditions in the lower end of the market, or – plainly put – arrive with the wrong attitude.

The status quo presents the same problem at both ends of the value chain. We have a sector that measures the wrong things. For customers, it is measuring uptime percentages as cold data points that ignore whether children can actually access online learning. For talent within businesses, we gravitate towards CVs that show an impressive track record but show nothing about whether someone shows up with grit when theft, load shedding or economic shocks hit.

Breaking out of this status quo isn’t idealistic. On the contrary, this is precisely how Backspace navigated from humble beginnings. We have imperfect conditions in South Africa, everyone knows this. The pandemic magnified this. The lesson is that technical excellence without human resilience is self-defeating.

A human-centred alternative

A handy, and proven way towards growth and success is to focus on human metrics. Redefine success around “human uptime”, not just whether the network is up, but whether it is changing lives. What does this mean? It means that connectivity is reaching informal settlements and other poorer, working communities at prices they can actually afford.

This purpose-led culture is achieved by hiring for attitude first, and then deeply investing in the people who have it. You simply cannot execute on purpose if you hire technically brilliant but toxic team members. This same philosophy scales outward: give communities the tools and incentives to connect themselves. They will.

Turning a human-centric approach into opportunity

Once you have the right approach to human metrics, both internally and externally, it is far easier to chase opportunity in the face of immense challenges. Take Backspace’s reverse billing model for example, which turns data into something akin to being “toll-free”. Any app, website or payment device can be accessed at no cost to the end user; the supplier of the content or service is back-billed. APN technology locks the device so the SIM cannot be removed or misused, while still allowing the machine to reach its required applications for free. Human metrics: Are people being connected and enabled?

Internally, the same human-centric logic applies. You want creativity and an opportunity mindset to drive innovation. To foster this, it is useful bringing in external coaches with new and different energy, investing in internal training programmes and adopting an open-door policy so that staff members feel their voice can be heard. This kind of culture leads to an environment with high tenure, and one where innovation flows.

Again, this is not idealistic, it’s been learnt through practice. During the pandemic when everyone was panicking, we went from humble voice-only beginnings to R18-million monthly revenue generated from shipping SIM phones to the informal sector. Without any doubt, focusing on human metrics enables businesses to turn imperfect conditions into opportunity.

The lesson is simple. South Africa’s connectivity future depends on people, not just percentages. Businesses would do well to look at their own metrics. If the definition of uptime stops at network availability, you’re missing out on so much more.

If we’re honest. We don’t need more 99.9% uptime headlines. We need human uptime. The country craves connectivity that actually reaches the people who need it most, delivered by teams who believe making a real difference matters more than any single skill. Organisations that make this shift will be the ones who finally close the digital divide, not just talk about it.

By Zunaid Moti, Entrepreneur, Investor, and Founder of MotiMoves

Let’s clear something up straight away. There is no such thing as overnight success.

It’s an impressive phrase, but it belongs in the same category as “instant legacy” or “effortless empire.” It’s catchy and marketable, but largely fiction.

Scroll through social media long enough and you’d swear billion-dollar companies are built between Monday morning and Thursday afternoon, complete with a podcast appearance and a perfectly packaged motivational quote.

Real life is a little less cinematic. Behind almost every so-called overnight success sits a decade of work nobody noticed.

The myth that distorts entrepreneurship

The biggest problem with the overnight success label is that it rewrites the story of how success actually happens.

People see the breakthrough moment – the big investment, the viral announcement, or the headline that suddenly places someone in the spotlight. What they don’t see are the years leading up to it – failed ideas, difficult pivots, uncomfortable learning curves, and long stretches where progress feels measured in millimetres.

Social media doesn’t show that part of the story. It shows the champagne moment, not the grind that paid for the bottle.

When young entrepreneurs only see the final chapter, they start believing they’re falling behind. They’re not. They’re simply comparing their real journey to someone else’s highlight reel.

The “lucky break” illusion

When people try to explain someone’s sudden success, they often reach for the word luck. Someone was “discovered” or met the right investor by chance in a coffee shop.

Those stories make great documentaries. They make terrible business advice. In my experience, luck is usually preparation meeting opportunity. The people who appear lucky are almost always the ones who have been quietly working for years, learning their industry, refining their thinking, testing ideas, building relationships, and developing the thick skin to survive setbacks.

Hard work doesn’t guarantee success, but it improves the chances that when opportunity knocks, you’re not still scrambling to get dressed. If it arrives and you’re not prepared, it will pass to the next person.

Take Elon Musk. Many assume his success with SpaceX or Tesla was an overnight triumph. In reality, he spent years on the brink of bankruptcy, pouring his last cent into prototypes that repeatedly failed before the world recognized his vision. Most entrepreneurs work the same way. The public sees the breakthrough year, not the decade behind it.

The danger of chasing hype

In other words, believing the overnight success myth is naïve, and it can even be destructive. When entrepreneurs chase hype instead of building fundamentals, they begin measuring themselves against unrealistic timelines. And when those timelines aren’t met, frustration creeps in.

Six months without traction feels like failure, and a year without explosive growth feels catastrophic. But most serious businesses are still figuring themselves out in year three.

Business isn’t a sprint and it doesn’t run on social-media timelines. It’s a marathon with a few hills thrown in for good measure. Push too hard for too long without perspective, and the cracks start appearing – in your health, relationships, judgement, and the quality of your decisions.

Failure is part of the system

Show me an entrepreneur who claims they’ve never failed, and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t taken enough risks. Failure is not a glitch in the system. It is the system. Jeff Bezos has overseen dozens of high-profile “flops,” from the Fire Phone to defunct auction sites, losing hundreds of millions in the process. He views those failures as the tuition fees required to eventually build a world-dominant company.

Business is no different. Every failed deal, wrong hire, or flawed idea teaches you something – usually the hard way. Setbacks force you to rethink what went wrong and make smarter decisions next time.

The real competitive advantage

In keeping with this, people often assume the biggest advantages in business are intelligence, capital, connections, or even timing. But one factor matters more than most people realise. Endurance. You’ve got to be a pitbull about persistence.

Most businesses don’t fail because the idea was wrong. They fail because the founder ran out of patience or money.

The entrepreneurs who succeed are the ones who stay in the game long enough. They learn from their mistakes and refuse to let one difficult chapter become the whole story.

When something goes wrong, and it will, I remind myself of a simple question:

Is this the end of the movie, or just a plot twist? And most of the time, it’s just a plot twist.

Real success is messy and unpredictable, and it takes far longer than people expect.

But here’s the irony. If you stay focused on building something real rather than chasing headlines or shortcuts, one day people will start saying you succeeded overnight.

When that happens, don’t correct them. Just smile and get back to work. Because the people who last in business are the ones still building long after everyone else has moved on to the next “overnight success”.

By Professor Owen Skae, Director: Rhodes Business School

There are two young fish swimming along when they meet an older fish swimming the other way. The older fish nods and asks, “Good morning. How’s the water?” The young fish swim on for a while until one turns to the other and asks, “What the hell is water?”

The novelist David Foster Wallace used this parable to illustrate a simple but profound truth: the most important and pervasive realities are often the hardest to see because they form the background conditions of our lives.

For modern civilisation, energy and the cooperation required to harness it have long been that invisible “water”. Since the Industrial Revolution, societies have operated within a rare period of expanding energy abundance that has enabled extraordinary economic growth, technological progress, and improvements in human well-being. Yet many of the crises that define our age suggest that the conditions sustaining that progress are shifting.

From geopolitical instability in the Middle East and the systemic risks associated with climate change, to the disruptive acceleration of artificial intelligence and the rapid spread of misinformation through social media, our world increasingly feels as though it is under strain.

These challenges are often treated as separate problems, but they may be symptoms of a deeper issue: the difficulty of sustaining large-scale cooperation in an increasingly complex and resource-constrained world.

At its core, the challenge is institutional. As the biologist Edward O. Wilson famously observed, “We have created a Star Wars civilization with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.”

Our technological capabilities have advanced dramatically, but many of the institutions that govern our societies remain rooted in structures designed for a different era.

Research in cultural evolution offers insight into why this mismatch matters. The economist and evolutionary theorist Michael Muthukrishna argues that human prosperity is built on our unique ability to cooperate at scale through shared norms, institutions, and culture. However, institutional reforms that fail to consider these dynamics can unintentionally undermine cooperation. In societies where corruption is widespread, for example, transparency initiatives can sometimes backfire by revealing that norm violations are common, thereby reinforcing the perception that “everyone else is doing it.”

Such dynamics illustrate a broader pattern: poorly designed interventions can worsen the very problems they seek to solve.

Ecologists offer a vivid analogy. In 1935, cane toads were introduced into Australia to control agricultural pests. Instead, the invasive species spread rapidly and destabilised local ecosystems. Many policy responses risk creating similar unintended consequences when they treat complex systems with simplistic solutions.

If governance systems are to remain effective in an era of heightened complexity, they must evolve to sustain cooperation across wider networks of stakeholders.

One useful framework comes from the legal scholars Margaret Blair and Lynn Stout, who developed Team Production Theory in the field of corporate governance. Their work challenges the idea that a corporation is merely a “nexus of contracts” serving shareholders. Instead, they argue that firms are best understood as collaborative enterprises in which employees, managers, investors, and other contributors make firm-specific investments that collectively create value.

Within this framework, the board of directors functions as a mediating hierarchy. Its responsibility is not to privilege one stakeholder group over another, but to balance competing claims in ways that sustain the long-term viability of the organisation as a whole.

Extending this logic beyond the firm offers a useful lens for thinking about governance more broadly.

In an increasingly interconnected world, governments must increasingly operate as mediating hierarchies for society itself by balancing the interests of present citizens, future generations, and the ecological systems upon which all economic activity ultimately depends.

Seen this way, good governance is fundamentally about sustaining cooperation at scale. As Muthukrishna notes, corruption is not simply the absence of cooperation; it is cooperation that operates at too small a scale, within families, factions, or patronage networks without any sense of consequence for society as a whole.

Addressing this challenge requires more than institutional reform; it requires a shift in mindset. The leadership thinker Simon Sinek draws on the philosopher James P. Carse to distinguish between finite and infinite games. Finite games have fixed rules, clear competitors, and definitive winners. Infinite games, by contrast, have evolving rules and no final victory. Their purpose is simply to keep the game in play.

Many of today’s defining challenges, climate change, technological disruption, and geopolitical stability, are infinite games. They cannot be “won” in any final sense. They can only be managed through sustained cooperation, adaptation, and institutional learning.

Problems arise when leaders approach these challenges with a finite mindset. When institutions focus narrowly on short-term victories such as quarterly earnings, electoral cycles, or geopolitical advantage, they risk undermining the trust, cooperation, and innovation required to sustain long-term progress.

This insight has important implications for leadership education.

At Rhodes Business School, we emphasise the need for leaders who can think systemically about value creation in complex environments. Our 4E framework, Economy, Equity, Ethics, and Ecology recognises that economic systems cannot be separated from the social and environmental contexts in which they operate.

Energy systems illustrate this interdependence clearly. Energy researcher Charles Hall has shown that economic growth is closely linked to the availability of surplus energy. Expanding the technological frontier through advances in energy generation and efficiency remains essential to sustaining prosperity. But technological solutions alone are insufficient. Without institutions capable of coordinating large-scale cooperation, even abundant resources can be mismanaged or squandered.

Ethics and equity, therefore, remain central to governance. In periods of perceived scarcity, societies tend to retreat into smaller circles of trust, families, tribes, or political factions. Effective institutions must counteract this tendency by fostering inclusive systems that expand opportunities rather than concentrating them within narrow elites.

The King V Code of Corporate Governance recognises this reality through its emphasis on integrated thinking, which is the idea that organisations must understand the deep interdependencies between financial performance, social legitimacy, and environmental sustainability.

Ultimately, the challenge facing modern governance is not simply technical but civilisational.

Humanity possesses a periodic table of the elements, but, as Muthukrishna argues, we still lack a comparable framework for understanding how cultures, institutions, and incentives combine to sustain cooperation at scale.

The stakes are significant. Societies can respond to rising complexity by retreating into polarisation and short-term competition, allowing crises to compound and institutions to fragment. Or they can invest in governance systems capable of mediating competing interests while sustaining long-term collaboration.

The water around us is changing. The question is whether we recognise in time that it is water and that it is changing. Rather than waiting until the water freezes or disappears entirely, we must learn to see the systems that sustain our collective future and design institutions capable of keeping the game in play for generations to come.

• Boards are reassessing the leadership capabilities required to move artificial intelligence (AI) into core operations.
• Leadership alignment, governance, and organisational culture are increasingly determining whether AI initiatives translate into measurable business value.
• Leaders must be able to integrate AI across different levels of maturity, from individual employee tools to enterprise-wide systems.

The boardroom narrative around artificial intelligence (AI) in South Africa is shifting. AI as a buzzword is losing its shine as companies take a harder look at how the technology is applied across their operations, and what leaders they must appoint to ensure its success. While generative AI has only been in the mainstream for a couple of years, executives have already recognised that the real challenge lies less in the complexity or limitations of the technology itself, and more in leadership and organisational readiness.

According to research conducted by global leadership advisory firm Heidrick & Struggles, more than two-thirds of CEO and board-level respondents globally say their boards are spending enough time on AI. However, boards and executives need to be more prepared. As many as 38% of AI and data officers felt that their boards did not have the knowledge to respond effectively to presentations on AI and machine learning.

That gap in understanding is beginning to influence how organisations think about leadership appointments. As AI capabilities expand and companies seek to embed the technology into core operations, boards are reassessing the criteria used for senior appointments, placing greater emphasis on digital, technological, and AI fluency.

While directors and executives do not need to be technical specialists, they must have a strong enough grasp of the technology to judge where AI can genuinely create value, where it should not be applied, what risks or complications it may introduce, how employees will adopt and use it in practice, and how its integration may ultimately reshape the organisation’s culture.

Recognising that leadership capability often determines how effectively organisations navigate major structural change, boards are increasingly seeking external support to strengthen executive succession and board composition as AI becomes embedded across operations and organisations undertake enterprise-level cultural transformation. Firms such as Heidrick & Struggles are often engaged to support these processes, particularly when organisations are undergoing complex technology transitions.

In practice, this includes assessing whether existing executives and directors have the capability to oversee technology-driven change, advising on C-suite succession, and conducting executive searches where organisations need leaders with experience in digital and AI-enabled environments. Advisors may also work with boards on leadership transitions, board effectiveness, and leadership development, while helping senior teams align decision-making structures and governance frameworks.

AI is unfolding differently across organisations

Yet even with stronger leadership oversight and governance structures in place, organisations are adopting AI at different speeds and levels of sophistication. These differences are largely shaped by operational priorities, leadership readiness, and the maturity of a company’s data and technology environments. In practice, companies currently tend to fall into three broad categories:

• Individual employee use of AI tools

Employees use generative AI tools to support everyday tasks such as research, drafting documents, analysing information, and improving personal productivity.

• Integrated internal AI systems

AI capabilities are embedded within internal systems, linking applications, data platforms, and workflows to improve operational efficiency and decision-making across the organisation.

• Customer-facing AI deployment

AI is used to enhance the customer experience through automated service channels, personalised engagement, and faster response times across digital platforms.

These differences are changing how organisations structure leadership responsibility. Some companies are creating dedicated roles such as chief AI officer or head of AI to centralise strategy and coordinate implementation across the business. In other organisations, chief transformation officers are being elevated within executive teams to oversee AI alongside broader transformation mandates, while responsibility in many cases continues to sit with chief information officers, chief technology officers, and chief data officers. This ensures that integration remains tied to broader operational and strategic priorities.

Organisations must also build consensus across leadership teams and ensure employees understand how AI will be used in their daily work. When leadership shares a clear view of AI’s role in advancing strategy, they can guide adoption, reinforce usage over time, and move systems beyond isolated experimentation into everyday operations.

This transition requires organisational culture to evolve alongside the technology. Leaders must be able to clearly articulate how AI supports strategy, establish shared expectations across the organisation, and reinforce adoption through everyday management and decision-making. In many cases, boards turn to leadership advisory firms such as Heidrick & Struggles for support as they work through these structural and leadership changes.

When culture, leadership, and strategy pull in the same direction, organisations are far better positioned to embed AI across their operations and turn its potential into measurable value. Technology may enable transformation, but leadership capability ultimately determines whether that transformation delivers results.

About Heidrick & Struggles

Heidrick & Struggles is the world’s foremost advisor on executive leadership, driving superior client performance through premier human capital leadership advisory services. For more than 70 years, we’ve delivered value for our clients by leveraging unrivalled expertise to help organisations discover and enable outstanding leaders and teams. Learn more at www.heidrick.com.

South Africa’s largest representative body for over 1 800 non-bank credit providers, MicroFinance South Africa, has rebranded to the Credit Association of South Africa (CASA), recently announcing this brand shift to members, industry stakeholders and partners at its 2025 Annual General Meeting in Johannesburg.

“The launch of CASA is another significant step forward to make credit a force for dignity, inclusion, and growth,” explains Leonie van Pletzen, CEO of CASA. “This comes after nearly three decades of progress, partnership, and purpose, and is our renewed commitment to serving the entire credit industry.”

“At the heart of CASA are our values that have always guided us,” she continues. ”Integrity, accountability, and inclusiveness, ensuring that every decision we make builds trust, upholds responsibility, and uplifts every voice within the sector.”

Founded in 1996, first known as Association for Microlenders, and then Microfinance South Africa (MFSA), the association became the trusted voice for credit providers. While its purpose remains unchanged to enable ethical credit providers to provide regulated credit and grow the South African economy, its focus is evolving.

“We are expanding our footprint, presence, and influence across our country, always keeping people and purpose at the centre,” says van Pletzen. “When credit works responsibly, our local economy can flourish by providing access to developmental credit for consumers that is regulated, thus keeping them from turning to the illegal credit market.”

From its microfinance roots, South Africa’s credit industry has become a dynamic ecosystem of innovation. Supported by technology, data, and forward-thinking service providers, it now drives access, inclusion, and opportunity nationwide. CASA brings together every part of the credit ecosystem, from community lenders to national players, united by a shared belief that responsible credit can transform lives and strengthen our economy.

According to van Pletzen, most of the leading service providers in the sector are Associate Members of CASA, offering critical solutions such as loan administration systems, payment platforms, insurance and credit life cover, credit bureau data, document verification, and legal or compliance services.

“These partnerships strengthen our members’ businesses and help advance a sustainable, responsible credit industry,” she states. “We will continue to equip our members with the tools, knowledge, and influence they need to succeed.”

Van Pletzen lists the ways in which the association will lead industry transformation:

1. Representing members through strong advocacy with regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders;
2. Creating platforms for collaboration, dialogue, and networking across the credit value chain;
3. Providing guidance on regulatory and compliance matters to help members navigate evolving requirements;
4. Building capacity through training, workshops, and practical resources;
5. Delivering insights and thought leadership to inform decision-making and shape the future of credit;
6. Promoting trust and upholding the reputation of responsible credit provision.

“We are driving transformation by supporting the development of a new generation of diversified, inclusive, and innovative credit providers that reflect South Africa’s evolving market needs,” reports van Pletzen. “We are advancing financial inclusion by promoting access to safe, affordable, and formal financial services for all South Africans, particularly those underserved by traditional institutions.”

“Together, we aim to help expand financial access and create pathways for economic participation for all South Africans, especially for those who are financially vulnerable,” concludes van Pletzen.

About the Credit Association of South Africa (CASA)

CASA is South Africa’s leading association representing responsible and professional non-bank credit providers. CASA exists to enable credit providers to thrive and to build a sustainable credit industry that supports economic growth and financial inclusion across South Africa.

CASA brings together ethical and professional credit providers to build a fair, sustainable, and inclusive credit industry, reflecting a broader mandate and renewed purpose to serve the entire credit sector.

It is a member-based, non-profit association governed by an Annual General Meeting, an elected Board, and specialised Board Committees. CASA is registered as a Section 21 Company (1996/001116/08), with MVB Auditors as its auditors and Nedbank as its official banking partner.

About Leonie van Pletzen

Leonie van Pletzen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Credit Association of South Africa (CASA). With 15 years of experience in the industry, Leonie is recognised as a passionate advocate for ethical lending, financial inclusion, and regulatory reform. She brings a wealth of expertise in industry advocacy, corporate governance, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable development.

Leonie has played a key role in shaping policy dialogue between government, regulators, and the private sector, and is an active contributor on various national committees, including the National Credit Regulator’s Credit Industry Forum and the Banking Sector Education and Training Authority. Her leadership is defined by a commitment to protecting vulnerable consumers while ensuring the long-term sustainability of responsible credit provision in South Africa. 

For interviews or further information please contact:

Claire Watt

The Friday Street Club

Tel: 082 490 3796

Email: claire@thefridaystreetclub.co.za

Western Cape MEC for Education, David Maynier, applauds the collaboration with Mellon Educate

South Africa, 19 November 2025 – As South Africa faces a national literacy emergency with more than three quarters of Grade 4 learners unable to read for meaning, 450 volunteers, teachers, and community members have come together this week to take on one of the country’s greatest challenges: teaching children to read and giving them the tools for a better future.

Mellon Educate, the international charity founded by Irish philanthropist Niall Mellon, is best known for building housing for 250,000 of South Africa’s most vulnerable families. This week, on the dusty school grounds of Cape Town’s townships, Mellon Educate’s 2025 Building Blitz is underway, the organisation is building literacy, brick by brick, classroom by classroom, including dedicated Literacy Hubs created for one-to-one tutoring and digital learning environments.

Western Cape MEC for Education, David Maynier, attending the event, said, ” We are very proud of this strong partnership with a school, Mellon Educate, and the Department, all mobilising around a common goal to improve literacy.”

The numbers driving this mission are sobering. According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021), 81 percent of South Africa’s Grade R to Grade 4 learners cannot read or write for meaning. In the poorest schools, that number rises to nearly 90 percent. Without literacy, there can be no learning, no skills, and no opportunity. Literacy is the foundation of a competitive workforce. By ensuring every child can read by Grade 4, we unlock pathways to skills, employment, and economic resilience.

Building the Foundation of a Nation

Through its expanding Literacy Hub programme, Mellon Educate aims to reach one million children across the country by 2035, establishing 600 community-based hubs and employing 10,000 young literacy tutors. The model delivers measurable results: independent evaluations show literacy scores improving by 40 to 50 percent in one year.

“We’ve always believed in South Africa’s potential, but potential needs tools. Reading is that tool,” said Niall Mellon, Founder of Mellon Educate. “You can’t build a country if its children can’t read. For us, this is the next phase of nation-building; Bricks to Books. Every Literacy and Digital Hub we open is a cornerstone for South Africa’s future.”

South African corporates have both the ability and responsibility to help solve the literacy crisis by financing these types of initiatives.” Mellon added. “By supporting literacy today, companies are investing in the country’s future workforce and building the talent pipeline that will drive tomorrow’s economy.

The programme’s impact extends beyond literacy by harnessing South Africa’s unemployed youth to solve the literacy crisis. 90 percent of Mellon Educate’s tutors were previously unemployed, turning the initiative into a job-creation engine for local youth. In addition, three years ago, Mellon Educate were ahead of the curve, introducing AI technology and completing a number of monitoring and valuation studies, demonstrating the willingness of teachers to embrace AI as a way to help solve the literacy crisis.

Government and Community United

The initiative has the support of the Western Cape Education Department and aligns with President Ramaphosa’s Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI), and part of the national strategy to improve early-grade reading outcomes, declaring at the Department of Basic Education Lekgotla, earlier this year: “Not having mastered basic skills in reading and maths at foundation level sets the tone for how a learner will perform in high school and beyond.  So, correcting these shortcomings is the most urgent of tasks. It must be front and centre of our efforts in basic education.” Mellon Educate’s Literacy Hub model aligns with the government’s District Development Model, creating jobs, improving education outcomes, and fostering inclusive economic growth at the community level.

At ACJ Phakade Primary School in Lwandle in the Strand, one of the 2025 Blitz sites, classrooms that once stood broken are now full of colour, books, and sound.

Acting principal Mandisa Lehoke, watching a group of children sound out words together, added, “Mellon Educate has built a solid foundation for my school – it will not only give them quality teaching but, most importantly, quality learning.”

A Movement Born from Hope

This year’s Building Blitz is a collective act of hope. The 450 volunteers from South Africa, Ireland, the UK, and beyond, have arrived to build and teach side by side with local communities. The energy is contagious. “When you walk through a site like this, you feel the heartbeat of what South Africa can be,” added Mellon. “This isn’t charity. It’s shared humanity. The Blitz is living proof that when we work together – government, business, and citizens – we can move the dial on the things that matter most.”

The Literacy Hub model’s dual focus – literacy and livelihoods – positions it as one of South Africa’s most innovative responses to the education crisis. It blends volunteerism with sustainability, pairing early-grade learning with youth employment and community empowerment.

The Human Story Behind the Statistics

Moments of real, tangible learning are what the Blitz is built around; visible, emotional proof that progress is possible. Each photo, each sound clip, each interview tells the story of a country learning to believe again.

The Long View

Since its founding, Mellon Educate has mobilised over 36 schools and 100,000 children. Today, its Literacy Hubs serve more than 4,000 children across 17 schools, supported by the Western Cape Education Department.

The organisation’s next target is expansion into the National Programme with national partnerships under development to scale the model across nine provinces.

“We can’t wait for someone else to fix it,” Mellon concluded. “We’re already doing it, one reader at a time. South Africa’s story is still being written, and it starts with a child learning to read, and it is amplified by South African businesses jumping in. We need your help,” he urges.

FACTS AT A GLANCE

●      81% of Grade 4 learners in South Africa cannot read for meaning (PIRLS 2021).

●      Mellon Educate’s Literacy Hubs improve literacy by 40–50% in one year.

●      36 schools and almost 100,000 children reached (and counting)

●      90% of tutors were previously unemployed.

●      Target: 1 million children, 600 hubs, 10,000 tutors.

●      Supported by the Western Cape Education Department & President Ramaphosa’s BEEI.

www.melloneducate.com

Student Living Asset Management (“SLAM”), a South African real estate private equity fund specialising in student accommodation, has acquired a 51% majority stake in the landmark 1,026-bed residence in Stellenbosch called Academia. This makes SLAM the largest investor in student communities in South Africa’s most in-demand university town.

Located on campus at Stellenbosch University, Academia offers over one thousand beds across 28 landscaped blocks with a restaurant, padel and volleyball courts, as well as biometric access, CCTV, and 24-hour security. Established in 2000 and managed internally for over 25 years, it supports a 20% international cohort and upholds a strong Code of Conduct for a safe, community-focused student experience.

This off-market acquisition, completed in partnership with the existing ownership team, demonstrates SLAM’s ability to identify and execute complex high-value transactions of ‘best in class’ assets while preserving operational continuity through ‘best of breed’ operators.

“This will be business as usual,” said Ndumiso Davidson, CEO and Co-Founder at SLAM. “SLAM invests in assets of scale in defensive locations with a strong operating track record and demonstrable long term student demand.

Academia exemplifies the profile of assets we seek to provide our investors. We are joining forces with the existing leadership team. There will be no disruption, no staff overhaul, and no operational restructuring. We’re here to build on a strong foundation, not to fix an operation that’s already working exceptionally well and has been the residence of choice in Stellenbosch for the last 25years.”

SLAM is backed by a consortium of institutional investors including pension and provident funds, reflecting confidence in the long-term yield and social impact of the student accommodation sector. SLAM, which is led and managed by an investment team with more than 35 years of experience in investing, developing and operating student accommodation, is also a Level 1 B-BBEE entity committed to ESG principles, with all assets progressing toward EDGE certification.

“This acquisition is a strategic anchor for our national portfolio,” added Romeo Makhubela, Chairman of SLAM. “It reflects our belief in this sector’s potential to deliver dependable inflation-beating income while directly supporting educational outcomes and youth development.”

With this transaction, SLAM signals its intent to consolidate and develop high-performing assets in key university towns across South Africa, building a portfolio that combines resilience, stability, and commercial strength with national impact.

For more information, visit www.slaminvest.com