Nomzamo Lighthouse Foundation

If the Nomzamo Lighthouse Foundation is selected as one of the recipients of the prize, we will be able to expand the scholarship fund, providing more opportunities for the marginalized and underprivileged youth to study in institutions of higher learning. This will improve employability and present opportunities that will improve the lives of the bursary recipients and thus the well-being of their families and communities. We will also be able to make inroads in rural schools that experience educational inequality, through our Tutoring Program in schools where poor pass rates continuously persist. We will offer fully fitted containers with computers and smartboards run with solar power, so that they too have skills and access information that allows them to excel and reach their dreams. We will further capacitate the schools with tutors for English, Math, Physical and Natural Sciences and Accounting in schools that have the poorest pass rates. These tutors will be accessed from a growing pool of qualified but unemployed educators and graduates, thus alleviating youth unemployment, particularly experienced by graduates in South Africa.

Our vision is to be an innovative and strategic organization with physical lighthouse centres nationwide, situated in marginalized communities offering youth information, financial and educational support.  

Our purpose is to lift the lid of invisibility and to stand in the gap for South Africa’s most vulnerable and marginalized youth.

Our goals include being the bridge to access to tertiary education for students through financial support. To be a key strategic partner and resource that facilitates free educational support through tutoring, digital and infrastructure support to rural and peri-urban secondary schools on the receiving end of educational inequality. Capacitating learners and students especially females with hard and soft skills necessary to navigate the next stages of their academic and professional lives. 

The specific problems the foundation is solving are: lack of educational support in schools in rural areas, access to higher education/financial inability of youth from marginalized communities to study at institutions of higher learning. In 2019 Statistics South Africa published a Higher Education and Skills report stating that 51% of youth aged 18–24 claimed that they did not have the financial means to pay for their tuition. 18% of those aged 18–24 who were not attending educational institutions indicated that their poor academic performance prevented them from participating.

The Nomzamo Lighthouse Foundation funded 112 students towards pursuing tertiary studies in various fields, raising over R1 500 000.00. We’ve provided 500 primary school children with school items, facilitated a donation of 20 desktops to a school in a rural area, impacted 1500 youth through a youth summit. South Africa having been severely impacted by the Covid-19 saw a rise in unemployment to a record high 32.5%. We then partnered in delivering supporting 500 mothers with care packs in maternity wards, delivering 10 000 food parcels during the Covid-19 lockdown and donating to South Africa’s Solidarity Fund that pooled funding to support small businesses and citizens severely impacted by the covid-19 lockdown. 

Our bursaries are offered to youth from poor, marginalized communities and those from ‘the missing middle’, a growing demographic in South Africa. Students from this 'class' don’t qualify for bank loans nor the national student financial aid scheme. They cannot afford paying study fees and related expenses. The ‘missing middle’ has been neglected as inequality and the rich-poor gap widens.

Founder Nomzamo Mbatha, UNHCR and Global Citizen ambassador, businesswoman and international entertainment personality uses her influence and reach to elevate the voice of the marginalized and the displaced. She announces ‘calls to action’ to over 3 million of her social media followers. Through the foundation she collaborates with partners in pooling resources to support those most in need.

The foundation will deliver a wholistic tutoring program, hiring qualified unemployed educators as grade 12 tutors (addressing graduate unemployment). Fully fitted shipping containers turned into classrooms will be donated to schools. Relevant digital resources and solar energy will be provided where there is no power. Security services will be provided to safeguard invested resources. A counsellor will be made available to learners that require special attention through the digital platform WhatsApp Video. This approach will assist with effective program delivery and sustainability.

The foundation has been able to fund 112 students. 30% of which have completed their studies and out of that 80% employed. This outcome impacts communities tangibly and improves living conditions and decreases food insecurity and poverty.

Currently the foundation is developing the tutoring program and is in discussions with companies as potential partners that have shown their interest in collaborating on the project. Companies in the IT space and automotive parts industry. This project will support grade 12s particularly in the subjects English, Math, the Sciences and Accounting. Improving scores and supporting educators so that learners achieve the required matric bachelor passes needed to access University.

We are sending out proposals to private companies and currently using our own funds for operational costs. We are currently finalizing details on a fundraising strategy where we will be selling merchandise with conscious messaging in a major retail store.

Through the foundations and the founder’s social media pages, we are reaching out to followers for support, resources and collaborations.