She follows her twin’s great dream
VALLEY of a Thousand Hills philanthropist Sbusiswe Myeni has no regrets about turning her back on a lucrative banking career to fulfil her late twin sister’s dream of starting a non-profit organisation providing educational support to vulnerable children.
The qualified statistician, who holds a Bcom degree in statistical science from the University of Cape Town, was climbing high in her career when her twin, Dr Seni Myeni, died of an aggressive brain tumour in 2006.
“Growing up in the rural village of Kwanyuswa (Valley of a Thousand Hills), Seni and I had the support of people who mentored us in different aspects of our lives. So she wanted to do something that would empower underprivileged children in our village, the same way we were empowered,” said Myeni who made a life-altering decision to quit her job to start the Imbeleko Foundation in 2010.
Her work experience, spanning more than 15 years, includes working for major banking institutions. She held top positions at Standard Bank, the African Bank, Nedbank, and Absa and was the head of risk at Absa Wealth International at the time of her resignation.
She told the Sunday Tribune that many of the people she knew thought she was crazy but she believed it was the best decision she ever made.
Myeni has no children of her own but she has taken on the responsibility for almost 400 which Imbeleko supports through its various Imbeleko Foundation beneficiaries take a moment from books to steal a selfie with philanthropist Sbusiswe Myeni. educational programmes including an after-school and holidays feeding scheme, as well as English and maths classes for primary and high school pupils.
“When they get to Grade 7, depending on the number of funders we have, we select the top performers for our boarding school programme. We take them to Adams College and Ohlange High School,” she said.
Myeni does not stop with basic education as the foundation also sources funding for university and accommodation fees.
“We don’t just focus on books but we provide holistic mentoring because we want to empower our youth to be independent and responsible young people so there are numerous life-skills programmes that we have during school holidays.”
“During weekends and holidays the 33 who are currently in varsity come to tutor the pupils at high school and are paid a stipend for their services because we want them to grow up knowing you have to lend a hand to others and give them the same opportunities you were given, if not more”.
Imbeleko depends on donations and volunteers, but Myeni last year created a youth-led local economy project for the Kwanyuswa community which focuses on “eco-agri-rural-social impact tourism”, to try to ensure that Imbeleko is self-sustaining.
“We are creating our own community’s ecosystem, hiking through the Valley of a Thousand Hills, cultural tours, arts and crafts, youth vegetable gardens – for self-sustainability and to create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth who don’t qualify for varsity and for unemployed graduates.”
The challenge now is building infrastructure for Imbeleko activities. .
The foundation’s impact has been recognised by several international organisations and in 2015 Myeni was invited to the Global Ambassadors’ Programme.