Long Walk makes mark

SOCIAL Entrepreneur Dr Nico de Klerk marked the end of a once in a lifetime challenge by reaching Cape Town after walking across the country to raise funds to start an online business school catering for high school pupils and unemployed South Africans.

The Long Walk for Entrepreneurship Mindset Campaign, which was part of Mandela Day and Mandela centenary celebrations, saw the 59-year-old from Pretoria covering more than 2 750km and reaching more than 100 underprivileged communities along the way.

De Klerk, the chief executive of non-profit organisation StreetBiz Foundation, began at the statue of Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings on July 18, and ended the event with the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) on his arrival in Cape Town on Saturday.

By the end of his mission, he had visited and shared his knowledge with pupils, unemployed and underprivileged people in 104 communities in the Gauteng, Free State, Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces along his route over 130 days.

De Klerk also set up a donations campaign on crowdfunding platform BackaBuddy, for South Africans to support phase one of his long-term plan, an online business school aimed at pupils in Grades 10 and 11 and the unemployed.

By November 13 De Klerk had raised R 36 733 and his target was R450 000.

“I decided to embark on this journey to make contact with present and future entrepreneurs, and to raise awareness around a changing mindset needed at a grassroots level for entrepreneurship to thrive in our country.

‘‘This long walk is a gift to all South Africans, intended to reboot our mindset for a positive outlook, reboot our perceptions and to cross boundaries like never before,” he said.