urban economic development project
TRANSCRIPT
Table of Contents
I. Who is Ikamva Ubomi?.........................................2
II. Ikamva Ubomi’s Assests.......................................3
III. Ikamva Ubomi’s Issues.......................................4
IV. Staff Insight.........................................................6
V. US Comparison among Start-Ups.........................9
VI. Solution to Issues..............................................11
VII. Bibliography......................................................13
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I. Who is Ikamva Ubomi?
During my time in South Africa, I had to the pleasure of working with a non-profit
organization called Ikamva Ubomi. Ikamva Ubomi is a community based outreach non-profit
organization that was established in 2011. This organization was designed to empower kids with
employable skills in an attempt to teach them a sense of community development, crime
prevention and also giving kids a sense of direction and opportunity. One of the big things that
Ikamva Ubomi does is seek out potential projects within the Atholone Township that are viewed
as places where kids can go and learn transferable skills. Some of these project locations include
churches, mosques, schools, as well as historic sites. Here at these project sites, Ikamva Ubomi
learners learn skills such as infrastructure maintenance, integrated technology systems, cabling,
accounting, project management skills, as well as others. Ikamva Ubomi also wants to get at risk
kids off of the streets and into their programs and projects to help redirect their energy into
something positive. Ikamva Ubomi’s mission statement states: “Ikamva Ubomi empowers and
equips our communities to rise above their circumstances and set the example for the next
generation. It is our aim to make interventions to avoid learners at risk from falling by the
wayside and becoming victims of the schooling system. Stop kids from joining gangs and
becoming drug addicts and in so doing aligning ourselves with the councilors truancy plan. Give
our kids a sense of a community. Help those people who genuinely can’t afford the services we
offer. Join businesses, non-profits organizations, parents, kids, and the grater community to form
a strong and proud community for all.” Ikamva Ubomi serves as not just as an organization that
provides resources for kids within the community but also serves as an organization that makes a
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lasting and profound impact in the lives of kids, parents, as well as churches and libraries
throughout the community.
Ikamva Ubomi aims to achieve various objectives from project to project. Some of these
objectives include providing basic employable skills, creating opportunities for job shadowing
programs, exposure of the job market to disadvantaged individuals, promotion of community
involvement, crime prevention through the use of programs that keep at risk youth busy,
providing basic services for the community free of charge, allowing the community to take
responsibility through the skill building programs, renovations of churches, mosques, schools,
community facilities, houses, recovery homes as well as children’s homes, providing
professional services such as accounting, networking, marketing, as well as others, and providing
awareness and early intervention programs throughout the community.
II. Ikamva Ubomi’s Assets
Within the township of Athlone, Ikamva Ubomi has been able to make significant strides
in its attempt to foster and produce various sites throughout the township that help keep kids off
the street, empower them with the necessary tools and equipment to help their productivity in
regards to their studies as well as develop and expand on employable skills. Some of the projects
that Ikamva Ubomi were able to complete include Athlone High’s library, Place of Hope, Bethel
Bible School, Victory Outreach Christian Recovery Home, among others. At Athlone High, the
library that was initially in place had been inactive for 18 years. Eugene Walker, the CEO of
Ikamva Ubomi, saw how a valuable resource at a high school was not being utilized and wanted
to change that. With the help of some gracious sponsors as well as the hard work and
determination from the Ikamva Ubomi team, they were able to restore and improve this inactive
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library at Athlone High. Furthermore, Ikamva Ubomi was able to completely revamp the network
installation that was in place in the library.
In the same manner, Ikamva Ubomi was able to provide a new computer lab and a
satellite installation at no cost for the Place of Hope Center. They were also able to provide a
new computer lab to the Bethel Bible School free of charge. Afterwards, the principle of the
Bethel Bible School was quoted saying “I was simply amazed by their tireless efforts of Ikamva
Ubomi and the enthusiasm of the learners to get certain things done at our school”. This
illustrates the impact that Ikamva Ubomi is able to have on a community. Through their efforts of
providing spaces for individuals to further and better themselves not just as learners, but as
people as a whole, they are unlocking untapped potential that they otherwise would not be able
to find as easily or at all. On the same note, this illustrates Ikamva Ubomi’s assets in that they are
able to affect a large number of people through the resource centers that they are able to create
implement throughout the Athlone Township. Despite the lack of resources in regards to funding
and marketing, they are still able to provide necessary resources and skills to a community to the
best of their ability.
III. Ikamva Ubomi’s Issues
On the other hand, despite the progress Ikamva Ubomi has been able to make since its
opening in 2011, there are still some very glaring issues in regards to how the business is ran. As
mentioned earlier, Ikamva Ubomi is a non-profit organization. According to the South Africa’s
Department of Social Development, a non-profit organization can exist “as a trust, company or
other association of persons established for a public purpose and of which its income and
property are not distributable to its members or office bearers except as reasonable compensation
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for services rendered. Nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and community based
organisations (CBOs) are collectively known as nonprofit organisations (NPOs).” This means
that non-profit organizations have to be able to find sponsorship and funding outside of the
government to carry out any projects or events that they may want to pursue. Furthermore, these
non-profit organizations must then recycle any funds generated from these projects or events
back into the company to help better the issue or cause at hand. The fact that there is no
governmental assistance in the sponsorship and funding endeavors for Ikamva Ubomi makes it
hard for them to market and brand themselves to a larger audience.
When I first came to Ikamva Ubomi, the only thing that they had that illustrated who they
were and the purpose of the organization was a PowerPoint and a Facebook page that were not
very professional. They lacked some key ingredients that most companies in this day and age
have, which include a website and a larger and profound presence on social media outlets. Also
they did not know about certain crowdfunding websites, such as GoFundMe, that can help raise
money for a certain cause. The main reason why that had these problems were due to the fact
that they lacked the skills and knowledge to increase their marketability. For example, nobody
within the organization knew anything about coding or how to start a website to help them look
more professional. So when they went to sponsors for sponsorship and funding, it made it hard to
illustrate the organization’s purpose and mission while also showing the previous work they have
done and the effect it has had on the community. The only thing that they had to show for what
Ikamva Ubomi was as an organization, was a brochure type document that highlighted a few of
the things that they have been able to accomplish. In the same manner, no one within the
organization was very familiar with other social media outlets besides Facebook. While
Facebook remains one of the most popular social media sites in South Africa as well as the rest
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of the world, they were not really accustomed with newer social media outlets such as Twitter,
and Instagram. All of these things makes it hard for an organization, especially a young non-
profit organization, to market and brand itself. Without the right people in place that possess the
necessary skills across a large range of skillsets, the ceiling that an organization can reach is very
limited.
IV. Staff Insight
During the course of my stay at Ikamva Ubomi, I had to pleasure of talking to Shanley
Klein. Shanley Klein is a twenty three year old male who is originally from Cape Town.
Growing up, Shanley Klein had a mother who was an alcoholic and had a dad who was a drug
addict. On the same note, he also had two brothers who were avid users of meth. One of the only
bright spots aside from himself was his youngest sister who currently goes to school. Shanley
had to “self-maintain himself as a person and individual and be a self-role model for himself.”
Currently, he is the assistant treasurer and front desk receptionist for Ikamva Ubomi. Shanley
also is a mathematics teacher for kids in grades between ninth and twelfth grade. He also
teaches math to adults that have decided to go back to school. Shanley has been with Ikamva
Ubomi since the beginning of March and has already worn many hats within the organization.
Before coming to Ikamva Ubomi he also worked as a math and english teacher at a school named
Education for Africa. Here is where he heard and learned about Ikamva Ubomi. A student that
attended the school knew Eugene and about his organization. Shanley has always wanted to not
only benefit himself but also wanted to benefit the community. This lead to the student
introducing Shanley to Eugene and the rest of the organization later on that week. Once Shanley
started working at Ikamva Ubomi, he knew that it was a “stepping stone” for him to achieve his
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dream of positively affecting the greater community. According to him, Ikamva Ubomi has been
able to “improve his typing speed and increase his computer knowledge”, amongst other things.
One thing that Shanley has learned since being at Ikamva Ubomi is that you have to
be constantly eager to learn new things every single day to help improve on your strengths as
well as the skills in your repertoire. Tasks that need to be done are usually divided based on
what people are good at which is something Shanley believes Eugene and Ikamva Ubomi do
a good job with. However, there is still the issue with money and getting the necessary
funding and resources from sponsors. According to Shanley, when they go and visit potential
sponsors, they bring a pamphlet or brochure that illustrates the mission statement as well as a
layout of past projects that they have done. They also bring testimonies from past sponsors
and projects illustrating the positive things Ikamva Ubomi has been able to accomplish. Even
though this may be able to get the base message across to the sponsors, there are better ways
that this information can be put together and disseminated to their target audience, according
to Shanley. Despite going to over seven potential sponsors over the course of a week, Ikamva
Ubomi has not had much luck with gaining sponsorships in over a year. According to
Shanley Klein, he believes that Ikamva Ubomi may need to take a different approach when
speaking with sponsors. Instead of just solely looking for funding, he believes that they may
need to reach out and seek certain resources and individuals that can add to the various
projects that Ikamva Ubomi takes on. This can in turn increase sponsorship and funding due
to the fact they will have added social capital. With this lack of funding being the case,
Ikamva Ubomi has been limited in the amount of projects that they can do.
Another issue that arose from the lack of marketing of the organization is that many
students don’t know about the resource centers that are being made to help them or they
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don’t choose to utilize the resource centers to their fullest extent. Initially, Ikamva Ubomi has
thought about doing things such as charging to print or scan or use computers at Ikamva
Ubomi to help keep the organization self-sustaining. This has backfired due to the fact that
many students don’t see the need of paying any type of money to just get on the internet. In
this day and age, many people own smartphones and can access the internet from their
phones. So to them there is no reason for them to pay for something that they can do in the
palm of their hands. By creating free resources and services, such as fixing computers and
updating them with newer software and programs, students will be more inclined to use the
resource centers. According to Shanley Klein a major solution to Ikamva Ubomi’s problems
stem from the people that are available to actually help out. If Ikamva Ubomi can gain a
larger group of people with different skillsets that are willing to make a profound impact in
the community, then Ikamva Ubomi will be able to tap into different markets and broaden
their effect on different communities across the nation. “If Ikamva has the right resources
such as free internet access with hubs that provide information and knowledge to the masses
of people, Ikamva can be able to reach new heights.”
Shanley also expressed how the work load can sometimes be overwhelming due to
the amount of different things that the organization is trying to do. However he believes it is
all worth it due to the fact that the goal is to be a helping hand for everybody. In the same
manner, by gaining a larger amount of people at Ikamva Ubomi, certain tasks will be able to
be delegated to more people so everybody doesn’t have to wear as many hats. Having
someone solely dedicated to handling the finances, social media or administrative tasks are
ways Shanley thinks Ikamva Ubomi can improve. Shanley believes that one of the biggest
things that Ikamva Ubomi needs aside from funding and sponsorship are skills. “Knowledge
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is power” is something Shanley expressed many times during the interview. “Without skills
you can’t further and develop as an organization no matter how much funding you are able to
get.” Eugene is developing a self-managing environment when doing projects because he
wants the individuals involved with the project doing the work. Eugene is more of an
overseer when projects are being done. Despite the struggles though, Ikamva Ubomi has
basically been able to start from the ground up and go with the flow in regards to building the
organization and expanding on what they want to get accomplished. Without no real example
of how to do things in regards to Ikamva Ubomi, Eugene has been able to make a difference.
On the bright side, Ikamva Ubomi has been able to collaborate with other similar
organizations. Most notably, New Seasons Foundation, which is an organization similar to
Ikamva Ubomi but focuses more on the sport aspect of the community. Shanley also
expressed how most of the influence that Ikamva Ubomi experiences is the help that is
brought to them from traveling students usually studying abroad in South Africa.
V. US Comparison among Start-Ups
In the same manner, similar conditions exist in America. Many newly made organizations
have a high likelihood of dying out if there is not a clear plan of action that is being taken. Also
if they are trying to reach a market that is oversaturated with a mission and purpose that is
similar to other organizations, the chances of them really succeeding are slim to none. Any type
of organization that does not have a strong brand and marketing plan will find it difficult to get a
meaningful amount of support. This is due to the fact that people will not know the organization
exists which will in turn make it hard for the organization to build momentum. According to
Business Insider, 90% of all startups fail. The top 20 reasons are shown in the infographic below
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(Figure 1.1). For example, Rdio, an online music streaming site, was launched in 2010. At this
point in time, companies like Pandora, Spotify, and Apple were dominating the market. Rdio
tried to make themselves unique by choosing to take the subscription-streaming model. This
meant that you could only stream music online if you paid a subscription. However, Spotify had
already did this and was the main competitor for Rdio. Rdio was also not able to keep up with
Pandora after Pandora acquired the technology and intellectual property from Rdio. To avoid
filing for bankruptcy, Rdio was forced to sell it to Pandora. Furthermore Spotify also had a free
version that was better than Rdio’s paid subscription according to some users. Rdio also failed to
properly innovate and adapt to the market situations. This made it very difficult for Rdio to gain
the momentum it so desperately sought for. Rdio’s poor market research as well as their
production of a similar product made it difficult for them to compete in an already saturated
environment. Therefore they were not able to find enough support from people looking for a
music streaming medium. This resulted in them not being able to get enough subscriptions and
eventually falling to Spotify.
Figure 1.1
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Source: http://www.fundingyourtechstartup.com
VI. Solution to Issues
In an effort to help combat the issues noted earlier in regards to Ikamva Ubomi, I wanted
to help provide them with more of a voice and identity on the web. In today’s society, almost
everything that is done is done on the web in some way, shape, or form. Organizations without
an online presence are held at a significantly larger disadvantage. With that being said, creating a
workshop type event where web skills are taught and developed could be a very significant
program. So far at Ikamva Ubomi, we have been able to give them a starting hand with their
online presence. However there is much more that can be done. Some skills that people who are
frequently online may take for granted, could make a world of a difference for Ikamva Ubomi.
As mentioned earlier, Shanley Klein believed that the biggest thing that could help Ikamva
Ubomi is the development of skills. This program would feed directly into this idea of
“knowledge being power”, due to the fact that they are directly learning transferrable skills that
can help in all aspects of the company. After talking with Eugene Walker, Vincent Owies, and
Malcom Oppel, I learned that the people who were in the chain of command had some basic IT
skills but didn’t possess some of the more advanced skills such as coding, and troubleshooting
networks. Furthermore, they weren’t really familiar with blogging and newer social media sites
such as Twitter and Instagram. By creating a monthly or even bi-monthly workshop event, adults
as well as kids can gain the necessary skills that are so desperately needed in this evolving
society. With the help and support of knowledgeable adults within the community as well as
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abroad, this workshop can serve as a profound building block for not only Ikamva Ubomi but the
community as a whole. We have been able to set up a GoFundMe account for Ikamva Ubomi, as
well as a Twitter and Instagram. Most notably, we have also been able to set up a professional
website for Ikamva Ubomi which in turn can help them during the course of gaining
sponsorships. However, just setting these things up will not benefit Ikamva Ubomi in the long
run if the people in charge do not know what is going on. After it was noted that the website was
being made, Eugene Walker said “Please show me what was done and teach me before you leave
so that we can keep up with it after you guys are gone.” This illustrates the emphasis on the
development of skill rather than just having somebody produce a product for you. Additionally,
during the course of my interview with Eugene Walker, Vincent Owies, and Malcolm Oppel, all
three of them touched on the fact that they were no real role models for kids within the township.
This then resulted in kids hanging out with gang members and drug dealers. The influence of
these gang members and drug dealers lead to these kids getting themselves into trouble due to
them not having any type of events or activities to help redirect their energy. By the creation of
this workshop, kids across the community will be able to attend an event that can keep them out
of trouble.
Although creating a workshop type event with a large turnout is easier said than done,
certain metrics and check-ins can be done to ensure that this program is sustainable and
successful. After the end of a quarter in regards to a year, attendees can be given the chance to
display what they have learned through certain projects that they can choose to work on. Also,
incentivizing the community to come out can help with the problem of turnout. A fundraiser to
help raise money can go into a certain number of prizes to entice the community to come out and
better themselves. For example, a car wash can be held where people in the community can come
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and get their cars cleaned for a small fee. This can then go into getting tickets to a rugby game or
another social event. By having tangible items that are looked at as a valuable commodity, the
likelihood of having a larger turnout is greatly increased. This will then draw a larger number of
people at least to the first couple of meetings. From there, the people who still come are not just
coming for the prizes but are then coming to develop their skills.
VII. Bibliography
1. Department of Social Development - Non Profit Organisations - ALL ABOUT NONPROFIT ORGANISATIONS. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2016, from http://www.dsd.gov.za/npo/
2. Funding Your Tech Startup. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2016, from http://www.fundingyourtechstartup.com/learn-why-startups-fail-and-how-you-can-be-of-the-10-that-succeed/
3. Carson, B. (2015). In memoriam: 7 once-hot startups that shut their doors in 2015. Retrieved June 23, 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/startups-that-failed-in-2015-2015-12
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