IMAGINE TSIBA

Project Report | Jan 29, 2026
IMAGINE TSIBA - GlobalGiving Report January 2026

By Graham Moore | Head of Partnerships

The first TSIBA GlobalGiving report for 2026 is shared as student registrations for the upcoming academic year are in progress. The particular moment is significant as this year’s registration process is ‘different’ for important reasons.

Registration 2026 follows progress made on the IMAGINE TSIBA journey reported on in previous reports. As readers of our more recent reports will be aware, after 22 years of operation, the TSIBA leadership has given considerable time in the last year to reflect deeply on imagining and reimagining our relevance and impact into the future. In turn, these reflections have catalysed deliberate activity to position the institution to deliver on these dreams - many of which are evident in this specific moment.

Since inception in 2004, TSIBA has offered accredited academic programs in business administration, including the one-year Higher Certificate in Business Administration, the three-year Bachelor of Business Administration in Entrepreneurial Leadership and the eighteen-month Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration. The emphasis on business administration studies across these qualifications has been underpinned by the understanding that ‘administration’ in its broadest definition spans across all business, with the consequence that education in this field will provide a wide range of employment and career opportunities for TSIBA graduates. With a consistent postgraduate employment rate above 90% across these qualifications this education emphasis has proved effective to date. Notwithstanding, as all education institutions have long been aware, as the world has rapidly digitised with ever growing emphasis on artificial intelligence, it is incumbent upon us to provide education which enables (our) students and graduates to find opportunities in a radically changed context. As this institution has sought to respond, it is pertinent to report significantly increased digital and ‘AI’ learning content into the curriculum of all of the business administration programs referred to above. This has largely been enabled with two key partnerships - one with Digital Skills Africa which offers no-fee access to a range of Cisco Networking Academy courses, and another with AICerts providing no-fee access to its full range of Artificial Intelligence education certificates for TSIBA students (and staff). To further facilitate these learning opportunities, a digital skills laboratory, fully equipped with necessary education and technology infrastructure has been set up on campus at TSIBA Ndabeni. TSIBA is grateful for the significant funding provided for this initiative primarily by Digital Skills Academy.

Beyond the above, it is however the realisation of a significant IMAGINE TSIBA milestone that marks registration 2026 as so important. Following a deliberate strategy to provide a relevant academic programme in digital education, and two years of course development, the TSIBA Diploma in Information and Communications Technology (DICT) achieved accreditation from the South African Council of Higher Education in the latter half of 2025. The DICT accreditation formally marks this institution’s entry into the digital education space as an additional pathway into economic citizenship through a programme which equips TSIBA graduates for a new world and a new economy. As we share this report, the recruitment and marketing of the offering continues at pace and student registrations for the inaugural TSIBA Diploma in Information and Communications Technology are in progress. Moreover, and supporting the institution's entry into accredited higher education digital offerings we are pleased to report funding for up to twenty full DICT scholarships and further funding for the TSIBA Software Tester Certificate qualification as a bridging programme for those aspiring to the DICT but without the required entry qualifications. The TSIBA entry into the digital education space thus aligns to our impact model of providing access to relevant education programmes for ambitious young people who may not have the academic and financial means to pursue these opportunities. Once again, TSIBA is enormously appreciative of the funding provided to the ASISA Foundation in support of the Diploma in Information and Communications Technology and the Software Tester Certificate qualification.

Readers of our previous IMAGINE TSIBA reporting will also be aware of our strategic efforts to build and enhance our international offerings through the TSIBA Global office. These offerings refer in particular to our partnerships with Audiencia University (Nantes, France), the University of North Carolina (USA), B360 Education Partnerships (Switzerland), ULBS (Romania), Rosenheim (Germany), Fontys (Netherlands) and Northeastern University (Boston, USA). As registration for the upcoming year, it is pleasing to report that the largest ever cohort of students from Audencia University are in the process of registration for the first semester of the year. In addition, recent funding from the Romanian Lucian Blaga University in the city of Sibiu will support a student from this institution to join the TSIBA Global semester studies programme. While such partnerships support revenue generation to fund institutional operations, primarily they offer opportunities for students across the world to learn from very different cultural perspectives, to grow academically and to develop networks which span outside of the countries in which students might have been restricted as young adults.

Towards our further dreams, we report on progress of three additional imagined initiatives aimed at our future positioning, including:

TSIBA entity integration

In efforts to streamline operations and provide additional education programs TSIBA Education NPC, trading as TSIBA Business School, and the TSIBA Ignition Academy were integrated into a signal entity during the latter half of 2025. The integration provides operational efficiencies as well as the opportunity to expand TSIBA Business School education offerings beyond those offered at higher education level including courses and certificates in Fundamentals of Business Administration and Management, Fundamentals of Project Management, South African Tax Applications for Small Businesses and the above mentioned Software Tester certificate.

TSIBA Wilderness experience

An essential component of the TSIBA (leadership) curriculum until the 2020 Covid restrictions and subsequent funding limitations, the TSIBA Wilderness has returned. From a rural base located in the mountains east of Cape Town, the programme offers first and third year students an opportunity to experience a safe and facilitated wilderness experience with specific outcomes in mind. The opportunity to be outside of and away from home and the ‘noisy’ urban environments in which TSIBA students reside the experience works to enable students to develop of a personal sense of vision, initiative and personal responsibility, with particular emphasis upon a concern for the conservation of the environment, community building, and cross cultural cooperation. Further, given the challenging environment from which many TSIBA students emerge, the Wilderness programme invites the sharing of past experiences towards enabling them to heal, bring awareness of students' own potential to grow, thrive and realise personal dreams, and encourages them to lead lives with responsibility and integrity. Given TSIBA’s commitment to produce graduates who are purpose-driven and rounded business leaders of the future, the wilderness programme is essential to this goal. We are pleased that this unique element of the TSIBA experience has been imagined back.

TSIBA campus upgrade

Efforts to imagine and create a campus to which all TSIBA stakeholders will aspire received a significant enabler through donor advised funding provided to refurbish and upgrade TSIBA Ndabeni campus facilities. The funding provided will address both aesthetic and functional elements of the campus structural infrastructure, providing not only a more beautiful campus at which to study, but one which is comfortable, fully functional for learning and safe.

Finally, we are pleased to report (unaudited as yet) annual revenue of ZAR 26,448 000 (USD$ 1 603 000) for the 2025 academic year, including ZAR 18 000 000 (USD$ 1 100 000) from South African and International donors (including donations through GlobalGiving). While such donations are imperative for financial and operational sustainability, they are also indicative of the trust our donors place in the work of this institution, and how we might imagine a future for TSIBA and its students and beneficiaries. IMAGINE TSIBA.

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Oct 1, 2025
GlobalGiving Project Report - October 2025

By Graham Moore | Head of Partnerships

Since the June report to GlobalGiving, TSIBA and Northeastern University (Boston) celebrated their 19th year of their annual international collaboration by bringing together TSIBA students (from South Africa) and Northeastern University students (from the USA) in a virtual design thinking sprint aimed at solving real-world challenges faced by local start-up entrepreneurs. Using Stanford University's five-stage Design Thinking model and the global 'Double Diamond' process, students collaboratively engaged in experiential, impact-driven learning that combined business theory with practical application. The initiative not only enhanced students’ communication, teamwork, and critical thinking skills, but also uplifted each participant as potential future entrepreneurs - with new tools and confidence with knowledge on that which may be required to build and grow successful businesses. The initiative also served to demonstrate the power of global collaboration to drive inclusive, grassroots economic development in the context of broader environmental and economic realities

Further, and in alignment with the strategic objective of promoting internationalisation of this institution’s offerings, the resourcing of the TSIBA Global office was bolstered by the deployment of a full time resource. Mr John Durr, Formerly Entrepreneurship Anchor and senior TSIBA resource of over ten years, was appointed to lead us in this internationalisation strategy. In addition to strengthening existing international partnerships, the task includes forging new partnerships to continuously enrich TSIBA’s international exposure to the benefit of TSIBA and partner institution students, while also diversifying revenue streams. Towards this, other recent constructive engagements included those with Audiencia University (Nantes, France), the University of North Carolina (USA), B360 Education Partnerships (Switzerland), ULBS (Romania), Rosenheim (Germany), Fonntys (Netherlands) and Northeastern University (Boston, USA).

The above initiatives are shared as key components of the IMAGINE TSIBA journey documented previously. As TSIBA celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2024, and as we celebrate our 21st through this year, so too have we begun to imagine where we might go, and what impact we might achieve - in South Africa, but also outside of our national borders. The TSIBA education model espouses purpose-lived transformative leadership, and as we journey into our third decade this institution affirms its commitment to the power of this offering as a powerful driver of social change across the globe. We also remain firmly of the view that as humanity struggles with multiple existential challenges, this model presents a path forward. Towards this we are grateful for the many financial partners who have supported TSIBA through 2025, including those whose funding has been provided through GlobalGiving., including the recently received grant of USD$ 96 000 000. Such donor funding, representing a significant contribution of the USD$ 1000 000 received this year to date, provides the financial ‘oxygen’ of the stated TSIBA commitment.

As the imagine TSIBA journey unfolds, a recent strategic overview affirmed our core value of Resilience, Integrity, Sustainability, and Excellence, referred to internally as RISE, values which underpin the drive to position TSIBA as an institution of choice by delivering relevant, future-fit education that drives student success and employability, supported by robust governance, thriving infrastructure, and an organisational structure designed for efficiency and excellence.

Rising above the ongoing operational matters at hand daily, the past months have thus been reflective in nature, asking and working to answer where TSIBA might journey in the next 21 years. Having recently reached the key milestones of awarding over 10 000 full or partial scholarships, producing 8 Mandela-Rhodes Scholars, 2 United Nations PRME Global Student Regional Leaders in Africa and 3 Kofi Annan Scholars, this was a moment to consider how TSIBA might lead into its future, and what that might mean for our core stakeholders, our students, and our financial partners who make all of what TSIBA does possible.

IMAGINE TSIBA

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Attachments:

TSIBA Elevate - International Youth Experience (PDF)

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Jun 11, 2025
GlobalGiving Project Report - June 2025

By Graham Moore | Head of Partnerships

In the previous GlobalGiving project report for TSIBA (submitted in February of 2025) we announced the launch of the IMAGINE TSIBA campaign, and the motivation for this bold new initiative. Underlying the announcement, and as TSIBA entered its twenty first year since inception, was a commitment to continue to realise profound impact to the lives of young people in the way in which TSIBA chooses to do so, and more importantly to reflect on, to imagine how our impact might scale, and how this might be achieved in a sustainable way. Pursuant, a collaborative process of conversation with key stakeholders, including the TSIBA Board, Executive, Staff, Student Representatives and selected external partners has realised the following core strategic goals to be accomplished if we are to bring about what we imagine. The core strategic goals are:

To achieve an optimal business model that will enable financial sustainability
To significantly increase non-donor revenue from transformative educational offerings as a proportion of total revenue
To position TSIBA as a Higher Education Institution of choice and to offer exceptional value for money to donors and students
To provide high quality, relevant and future-fit education which ensures student success and graduate employability and economic citizenship
To grow the TSIBA endowment such the interest revenue can contribute to financial sustainability and capital projects
To ensure optimal Digital and Physical Infrastructure, thereby creating an environment where students and staff thrive
To develop robust institutional governance and academic administration systems for compliance and excellence to all stakeholders
To achieve an optimal organizational structure that ensures institutional efficiency and effectiveness.

Following consensus and a commitment to reimagining TSIBA through these broad goals, the Board believed it necessary that leadership stability be put into place to ensure continuity across the envisaged timeline to realise the above against the specific measures and metrics put into place. Towards this, the employment contracts of the Chief Executive Officer, Gia Whitehead (current CEO and Co-Founder), Academic Dean (current Academic Dean) and Chief Operations Officer (current CEO of TSIBA Ignition Academy) were extended for a five year period. The contract extensions provide leadership stability as TSIBA navigates through the opportunities and challenges presented to IMAGINE TSIBA over the coming years.

To operational matters since the early 2025 report, and through the first semester of this year, a number important milestones have been accomplished at date of this publication. Most notably, these include:

The TSIBA ‘Class of 2024 Graduation Ceremony held in early April of the year. Graduation remains the highlight of every year as it marks a key moment the entire TSIBA community works towards collectively. At this moment, our students officially become qualified business degree graduates who will join our Alumni community. To date, over 90% of TSIBA Bachelor of Business Administration in entrepreneurial leadership degree graduates are actively employed and active economic citizens. In the context of over 50% youth unemployment across South Africa this remains a proud metric of the work of TSIBA, more for the context of where our students start their academic journey. To enjoy this moment with us please enjoy the video of the 2025 Graduation.

Following years of work on the development of a new TSIBA Business School Diploma in Information and Communication Technology we can report that accreditation from the South African Council of Higher Education has been received, with South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET) registration pending but imminent. This additional milestone literally imagines TSIBA entering into new but critical education territory if we are to equip students for the ever evolving digital age. It is intended that the TSIBA ICT Diploma will be available to students from semester one of 2026.

The celebrations on the 27th of February this year, and on which date TSIBA proudly celebrated its 21st birthday — a milestone marking over two decades of transformative education and youth development. The celebration took place on our TSIBA Ndabeni campus, bringing together students, staff, alumni, supporters, and the broader community. This special day honoured TSIBA’s journey, its impact, and the many individuals who have contributed to shaping its legacy of access, purpose, and excellence in higher education.

Finally, with respect to fundraising through the IMAGINE TSIBA Campaign two separate fundraising events are in the planning stages. The first will take place in South Africa in the latter part of this year, while the second is tentatively planned to take place in Switzerland in March of 2026. Invitees to both events will include current and prospective donors, all of whom will be introduced to GlobalGiving as the platform through which contributions to the goals of IMAGINE TSIBA can be provided. Notwithstanding the planned events, awareness of the IMAGINE TSIBA Campaign in general and on GlobalGiving is communicated to all new international and prospective donors. TSIBA is well aware that the platform provides a financial challenge through which to donate, but also an indication of the credibility of TSIBA as a worthy institution to support through financial contributions.

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