FOUNDERS' GIFT

Following our Founders Gift campaign report in February 2024, efforts towards realizing the fundraising target shortfall between the amount received of USD$ 296 160,00 and the campaign target of USD$ 1 000 000 have continued.  Much of these efforts in this period  have taken place locally in South Africa and in Europe, where TSIBA holds long standing relationships which  we believed would enable the campaign.  

In South Africa, the campaign led to a partnership withDigital Skills Africa (DSA) and the Cisco Networking academy in a collaboration to provide access to highly sought after digital skills to young people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to benefit from such a skills development initiative (typically students of this institution). Digital Skills Africa provided all of the information technology infrastructure for the set of the TSIBA DigiLab, while Cisco Networking has made available its online courses fee free to both registered students of this institution and others who wish to use the DigiLab facility for purposes of exploring and completing the Cisco online courses. Ranging from Networking, Cybersecurity, Programming, Infrastructure Automation (and more), the initiative provides access for young people to gain skills in sectors forecast with rapid demand growth. Effectively, the initiative enables the purpose for which TSIBA Ndabeni, the new TSIBA campus was acquired, i.e., to provide a platform from which students can transition from unemployability into active economic employment. The TSIBA Digilab was formally opened on the 6th June 2024 - and shared on Video with our Instagram community. 

In Europe, TSIBA Chief Executive Officer, Gia Whitehead, traveled to the United Kingdom and Switzerland to bring attention to this campaign. A highlight of the UK part of the trip was the hosting of the second annual Purpose-Lived Panel conversation which took place Tuesday 18th June (2024), during which time a  panel of  educators and business leaders explored the theme of purpose as the principal leadership dimensions needed for the realization of social and justice and the Global Sustainability Goals. Attended live (in-person) by guests in London at the time and online by those who wished to participate digitally, the event provided a further opportunity to showcase the work of TSIBA and its call for funding support, directly or through the Founders’ Gift campaign on the GlobalGiving platform. A full recording of this year's event was recorded and is available on the TSIBA Purpose-Lived podcast platform - Purpose-Lived

Further efforts to garner support from international funders extended to Switzerland where meetings with current and prospective funders occurred and during which a fundraising event in Zurich took place. The TSIBA fundraising was warmly hosted by and at Zurich-based Landolt Wines which opened its ‘Landolt Weine Vinothek’ to an evening of Wine and Impact to all of its Swiss based customers interested in their South African product and in the cause (TSIBA) in South Africa which they (Landolt Wines support). As with its London counterpart, this event was well attended and further worked towards building a base of potential supporters of TSIBA Fundraising campaigns. While the Founders’ Gift funding shortfall remains, we remain committed to its course and achieving its target through such efforts as described above, and over the longer-term. While we would be fortunate to achieved the target with a single generous donor, which we still seeks, TSIBA will hold patience as it works to garner support from a community of people and organizations willing to support this project and this campaign. 

Links:

• TSIBA - 2024 Purpose-Lived Panel Conversation in London
• TSIBA Purpose-Lived podcast platform

On the 27th February this year (2024) TSIBA celebrated its 20th year, a birthday shared  fortuitously each year on World NGO day.  Besides the twenty years of impact, for which we remain immensely proud,  the date was celebrated for another important reason. Our 20th anniversary was celebrated at TSIBA Ndabeni, our new and fully owned campus in Cape Town, South Africa, funded in part through the TSIBA Founders’ Gift campaign. 

The acquisition of, and migration to TSIBA Ndabeni marks the culmination of a dream which began in 2004 and for the first time in the history of this institution we have commenced the academic year at a campus which comfortably accommodates our cohort of over six hundred registered students, and which has the capacity to accommodate up to one thousand students.  For the funding and donations-in-kind we have received from our generous South African and International donors, the campus is  also equipped with new and state of the art technology to enable on-campus learning, and enabling our students to consistently engage with technology that will prepare them for economic citizenship in the digital economy when they leave as graduates. 

Having migrated relatively recently to the new campus (in July of 2024) the focus of the Campus project and Founders’ Gift funding campaign was on ensuring that the campus interior was fit-for-purpose as a tertiary learning institution. For the most part, and but for some additional furniture requirements, this has been accomplished. TSIBA was also blessed to have received an additional USD$ 96 154.00 through GlobalGiving in December of 2023. While we remain short of our GlobalGiving fundraising target of USD$ 1 000 000 target, the USD$ 200 160.00 raised to date has been significant. We also recognise that as a Capital Campaign, the full target is a long term objective, and one which TSIBA will continue to strive for over the next three  to five years.

With the campus interior (mostly) complete TSIBA has shifted its focus to the landscaping and external spaces surrounding the campus building and classrooms.  As  Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993) once quoted “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow”.  It is in this spirit that we turn our attention to our external spaces, but also to provide an on-campus physical representation of the critical connection between the natural environment, business and business education. In our vision, our gardens and external spaces should create  appealing space for students to relax in and be inspired, in particular as many of our students do not experience such spaces within the communities from which they emerge. Such spaces provide important learning for the respect of, and appreciation for, the natural environment. For a business school, and in terms of the crucial connection between environment and business, the particular focus area of SDG 12, such a perspective is more important now than ever.

And so, our invitation to celebrate our 20th birthday called for the TSIBA community to visit campus, see it, meet our students and staff and enjoy a free coffee. The invitation also included a call by “bringing an indigenous plant as a gift to TSIBA on it’s birthday”.  We are very grateful that many plants and a beautiful indigenous Water Pear ( Syzygium Guineense) tree was donated by members of the incredible community who support us, and who generously donated plants to our “Campus in a Garden” project. With one more dream fulfilled, that of fully owning our own campus, another has emerged. We once dreamed of having campus gardens, now we dream of having a Campus in a Garden. As we grow into our new space we look forward to watching our Campus in a Garden unfold as we aim to inspire business education and students who aspire to learn and study here.  

• TSIBA Business School - 20 Year Impact Report (PDF)