See a Need, Fill a Need

Today I want to break from the career-talk for a reality-check from my beloved country, South Africa. Not many people from "the West" know much about the REAL South Africa, but I can tell you, its a unique place! Its a country filled with opportunity - with international businesses recently investing large sums of money, good infrastructure and a stable economic and political climate, the possibilities available to entrepreneurs and educated, young people are endless right now. SA also has a lot of wealth, especially in cities where you will find large mansions, fast cars and golf estates. 

Unfortunately, it is also a place of great poverty. Just across the (imaginary) border that divides our land you will find shanty-towns, violence, hunger and unemployment. South Africa is the most unequal place in the world - her people are uneducated and unable to break across the border of inequality and into the land of promise and opportunity - that exists just down the road.

In South Africa if you have money, you can fool yourself into believing that you live in a first world country. You can shut yourself away behind electric fences and enjoy the luxuries that your money buys you. You can choose to ignore the very real problems you see at every street corner, every day on the news...But what if you weren't happy with that? What if you knew that there were young people out there with real talent; with the potential to be engineers, doctors and scientists despite their challenging conditions - people who just needed a little help to reach their dreams and lift their families out of poverty?  What if you wanted to give a little and touch someones life? But where would you find these gems?

Where would you even start to look?

The Fund A Dream Foundation is an initiative of a really amazing young woman (and close friend of mine) - Remona Moodley. Apart from currently competing in Miss South Africa 2011 and completing her degree in electrical engineering at UCT, Remona has recently launched the registered NGO - Fund A Dream Foundation to seek out SA's most talented young people.

With funding opportunities ranging from "Buy-a-Blazer", where investors can sponsor a year of school supplies and excursions to top-performing township scholars to  "See a Need- Fill a Need", where investors can search through the database of gifted youths and choose what kind of impact they want to make, to "Start-a-Scholarship" that allows investors to make a significant impact to life of a young person.

I am seriously thrilled about this initiative that links individual funders, families and small businesses-owners to people who just need a helping hand from a good heart! I'm also really excited to watch how this fledgling organisation grows, so a big shout out to investors: GET IN EARLY and benefit from the amazing opportunity to give back and get your business's name out there!

If you like what Remona and her team are doing, then comment on this post, share this link or email me and let me know what you think!