Welcome to Nala-Yethu (“Our Prosperity”)

Joint Trustee Statement

We all come from different backgrounds and yet, from an early age, we have all been witness to the power of, and need for, community spirit.

As a society, people are often told to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, but many people, through no fault of their own, have no bootstraps.

We are all products of matters outside our control: our geography; our gender; our genealogy. It is a fact that most children born in rural South Africa, today, are born without hope. When confronted with such a reality, however, it is all too easy for society to look the other way. Sometimes, this is because the task may simply feel too daunting; other times, it is because we fail to recognise that those who are suffering most are a part of our community. Their problems feel remote whereas the needs of our community are more intimately felt.

Our ultimate aim, therefore, is to change how one thinks about community. We want to take the local work that informed our upbringings and formalise such a spirit at the national level.

“Community is not one’s gated surroundings but a place belonging to all that are human.”

Although impact has featured in all our careers, the creation of Nala-Yethu (“Our Prosperity”) marks the most major step towards formalising our ambitions.

We believe that, at this point in our lives, we have garnered the necessary skillset, knowledge, and networks to truly make a difference.

All-too-often, people and organisations take a narrow view to solving the issues at hand.

From the outset, we knew that we wanted to help those that are most vulnerable in society. This search led us to our focus on Women, Youth, and People living with Disabilities (Vulnerable Groups). As large demographics, the position of women and youth, and their need for transformation, has long been recognised. Disabled persons, however, despite making up 8% of the South African population, as well as often being the most vulnerable in society, are continually neglected by transformative initiatives, with the argument being that their needs are ‘too expensive’. We want to correct this.

It should also be noted that our focus does not mean that we are solely limited to these demographics. We understand and acknowledge that, especially in vulnerable and rural communities, men tend to dominate the social hierarchy, and that what they feel and experience will affect the whole community.

Our next step was to think about the most effective way to generate transformation and to promote the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (“UN SDGs”) in the medium to long term.

Agriculture is a sector that can act as a thread of all the SDGs as it has the ability to contribute towards social impact and environmental stewardship.

At the core of our Approach is Partnerships for the Goals. We partner with institutional investors to mobilise capital for inclusive growth, transformation and capacity-building to support national plans to meet Agriculture and Agro-processing Master Plan 2030 targets.

Our very ambitious goal

We wish to contribute to a world in which all people can have three meals a day.