Call for business to help students

Online funding platform, Feenix, seeks to create debt-free studies

CORPORATE South Africa can make a positive difference in the lives of students across the country as they continue to battle the rising cost of tertiary education.

Leana de Beer, chief operating officer at Feenix – an online fundraising platform – said the aim of the organisation was to connect communities in a bid to create debt-free education.

Feenix was launched in June 2017 a response to the #FeesMustFall

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movement that spread in 2015 and 2016.

Since the crowdfunding platform started, it raised in excess of R25 million, which was used to support 900 students.

The platform aims to help the ‘missing middle’ – the 40% of unemployed youth.

“We believe that access to education should not be dependent on wealth. The tertiary education funding crisis that resulted in the #FeesMustFall

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across

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campuses

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movement highlighted the importance of education in the lives of South Africans, and the barriers that prevent access to it.

“We felt an enormous sense of wanting to get involved and co-create a solution with students.

“Being frustrated with the lack of channels available to do so, we established a crowdfunding platform,” De Beer said.

Crowdfunding is a simple concept sharing and promoting funding

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needs to various networks, communities and social media platforms, where donors are able to support according to their financial means.

De Beer explains that, in order to qualify, students need to be South African citizens, registered at a South African public institution and have a combined household income of less than R600 000 per year.

“They then need to register on the Feenix crowdfunding platform, upload their fee statements and define

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a funding goal.

“Once a student has registered, they are able to reach out to their communities, which would be friends and family, individuals and businesses, who can all contribute to that student’s funding,” De Beer said.

There are no academic requirements which means that students at all academic levels can join.

Feenix also caters for students wishing to enter postgraduate studies.

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