15 September 2023
The ASISA Foundation’s programmes have reached over 80 000 South Africans since 2013. Zanele Motau, who participated in the Financial Literacy and Micro-Enterprise (FLAME) programme, is one of them – and her story shows the infinite impact of the Foundation’s work.
In 2016, Zanele was a fairly well-established small-scale farmer in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria. Along with the challenges that come from being a woman working in a traditionally male-dominated sector, she battled with deficient financial skills – especially in costing and financial recording. As a result, she struggled to draw a meaningful salary for herself and her employees.
Then she enrolled in the ASISA Foundation’s FLAME programme, and her fortunes changed. “The programme had three phases,” she says, “with the first focusing on financial literacy. We were taught about budgeting, investing and saving. The second phase was a set of workshops about entrepreneurship: knowing your business and its purpose, and the problem and how it solves it.”
As her financial acumen improved, so did her business. “The FLAME programme had a great impact in my life,” she says, “and not only on the business side. I became more confident and gained self-esteem.”
Her company was then selected for the third phase of the programme. “This was a bootcamp where the ASISA Foundation assigned a coach to be in my business on a daily basis, checking on how my operations were going. There was also a bookkeeper who helped me, keeping track of all my company’s transactions,” she says.
Financial education only works to the extent that its principles are applied – and, as Zanele’s experiences during the Covid-19 lockdowns showed, the ASISA Foundation’s programmes certainly do work.
“Covid was so stressful for every entrepreneur,” she says. “I am thankful for the knowledge that I got from the FLAME programme. One of the things that we were taught was saving, and I put that into practice in my business during lockdown. We ensured that we saved every little cent that we had and used our savings to buy three properties within our community. That helped the business survive through Covid.”
Survive… and then thrive. Zanele now serves as chairperson of Youth in Agriculture and Development (YARD) in Gauteng, advocating for young people who are participating in agriculture. Demonstrating the infinite impact of the ASISA Foundation’s work, Zanele is applying what she learned on the FLAME programme and passing on her knowledge to others.
“I mentor about 10 students a year, who come from universities across South Africa to spend a year working with me,” she says. “We offer presentations to neighbouring farmers about farming, and we also run a backyard gardens programme, where we advocate for food security, which we know is a big challenge in our country.”
