Inspiring Impact Challenge second instalment showcases greatness
UKZN’s Inspiring Impact Challenge, which showcases initiatives by students and alumni who inspire greatness, recently held its second instalment.
The first live event of the annual challenge was held on the Howard College campus, with eight participants going head-to-head for the coveted title of first place.
The finalists were given five minutes to “elevator pitch” their initiatives and three minutes for a Q&A session in front of a panel of esteemed judges from fields in academia, business and social impact.
Managing Director of Kulisha Group and alumnus Kwazini Zulu said he was excited to be part of the live event after the virtual fatigue brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. "We are here to celebrate the change-makers who continue inspiring all of us through their projects and cementing the reason why this challenge exists." As the consulting agency partnered with UKZN to conceptualise and implement the challenge, the Kulisha team spent over six weeks training and preparing these social entrepreneurs for the main event, covering aspects such as design thinking, business model, sustainability and pitch readiness.
The winner of the challenge was Weliswa Kunene, a third-year pharmacy student and founder of the Mini Habitable Planet Workshop, an outreach programme run by UKZN students that aims to inspire learners, especially young girls in the townships, to pursue science-related fields through live science experiments, career guidance and educational workshops. Based in the townships of Clermont and KwaDabeka, the programme was established in 2019 and also addresses the social ills confronting learners.
Kunene, who won R25 000 for her initiative, said she was excited to go back to her students with these winnings, as they were currently competing in a debating competition. She also won the Most Inspiring Impact Award valued at R5 000.
Alumnus and Global Forum 4 Literacy (GF4L) founder Fiona Khan, who placed second, said her project aims to promote language, literature and literacy for children and the youth through books at a global level. Working under the Creative Commons Licence, the project creates USA based kindergarten through to grade 12 (K-12) and the national Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) – aligned educational material, distributes digital and print literature and provides training and development workshops. GF4L already has a global reach impacting hundreds.
Khan, who won R15 000 partly sponsored by Icebolethu Group, said the money will be used to procure digital artists in order to publish manuscripts for the global community.
Coming in third, student and UKZN Enactus member Lehumo Makgalo presented MyDigiTutor, an online tutoring platform for middle and high-income matriculants that is offered at a fee. The platform, which was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, seeks to address three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): good health and well-being – with its mental health programmes; quality education – with the tutoring service; and partnership to achieve goals – through collaboration with various high schools and organisations.
Makgola, who won R10 000 partly sponsored by the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, said he was excited to take MyDigiTutor forward to reach more learners in lower quintile schools.
Other prizes included the Most Sustainable Initiative sponsored by the Icebolethu Group worth R5 000, including mentorship, won by Sphesihle Mavimbela for her Sibuyiselwe Foundation; the Most Potential for Growth Initiative funded by UKZN InQubate worth R10 000 to Thobeka Khubisa for her Thobeka Khubisa Foundation; and the Judges’ Award worth R5 000 to David Zezai for his Zimbabwe Youth Sustainable Development Goals Trust programme.
Aside from contributing to the main prizes, UKZN’s Student Governance and Leadership Development (SGLD) also sponsored WiFi tablets to Alande Mbokazi for her Be Kind initiative; and Adelia Singh for her Motivate to Inspire project.
In her closing remarks, Normah Zondo, Executive Director of the Corporate Relations Division (CRD), said the participants inspired the judges to add more prizes. She congratulated the winners and remarked on how she looked forward to seeing how they progress, spend their winnings and implement what they learned during the training sessions facilitated by their partner Kulisha Group.
Zondo also thanked the judges and expressed gratitude to all the sponsors for their generosity, the CRD team and the Kulisha team for implementing and managing the project.
"It’s exciting to see the growth and support for the Inspiring Impact Challenge that is an initiative so close to my heart because we’ve seen how our students and alumni go the extra mile to impact their communities," she said.
Words: Hlengiwe Khwela