FunDza is delighted to have been selected as one of three nonprofits pitching at this year’s MTN Donor’s Den as part of the Trialogue Business in Society Conference. This year’s theme focused on using technology for education.

With a top prize of R25,000, we decided to pitch for something that we have been wanting to do for some time, and that was discrete and special, and which spoke directly to the current needs of our user base. We came up with the plan of producing a special open online course focused on entrepreneurship.

For the past four years we have been offering open online courses on our site, and all of these end with a final survey in which we ask for feedback. From this, we have got to know the needs of our users well.

We know that in general, many of our users fall into the NEET category (not in education, employment or training), and that many are trying to upskill themselves to find work or improve their lives. Through our research, we can see that now more than ever before (given the impacts of the pandemic and lockdown on communities) that young people are desperate for skills that can help them become more employable, and more entrepreneurial too.

We have run a number of courses aimed at employability and workplace readiness. But we have never developed the content for a course on entrepreneurship. And this is what we pitched to the MTN Donor’s Den.

Excitingly, FunDza’s pitch won the day and we now have R25,000 to put towards the costs of this new course – Own Your Destiny!

Work has commenced and we plan to launch it later this year. As with much of our content, we’re fusing practical tips and information with stories – as information frequently becomes much easier to absorb when learned through real-life characters and examples.

A very big thank you to MTN and Trialogue for the opportunity, and a big shout out to Zilungile Zimela who ably put forward FunDza’s case in the pitching event. Congratulations too go to runners-up Mihandzu Learning who received R15,000 for its project developing ICT skills among high school learners in vulnerable communities; and, The Global Teachers Institute, which received R10,000 for its work to develop and retain high-quality teachers.

Here’s a Ventureburn article about the event.