The time is exactly 13:00 on sunny Tuesday afternoon. I am waiting on campus, patiently, to meet with Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh; a second year PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) student at the University of Cape Town and recently elected SRC President 2009/2010.

As he approaches, I am immediately drawn to his mannerism; he arrives beaming with a smile and offers me a seat on one of the available tables.

As an aspiring businessman, this young man brims with enthusiasm at the prospect of using his business as a vehicle to serving the community. Without delay, he proceeds to share with me his thoughts on women, transformation and his vision for the future of South Africa.

M: What is your company about?

S: The Company is about leadership, what we found was in South Africa a lot of people highlight two problems that we have; the one is education and the other one is leadership. And so we thought we would give our small contribution to both these problems by teaching the concept of leadership in schools to high school age learners. And so what we do is, we go into schools we have written a number of programmes and we teach leadership to these school children.

M: By we, who are you referring to?

S: The Grow2lead team, Grow2lead was founded by 5 people of whom one was me. We started just as us five going in and facilitating and we have expended our team to 20 people.

M: What inspired the idea of starting this company?

S: Well, that is a brilliant word to use because our motto is actually ‘Aspire to inspire’ and so we thought that basically inspiration is something that was lacking in a lot of young people and something that is able  to catalyse positive in South Africa. So our whole inspiration was to inspire other people.

M: When was Grow2lead founded?

S: It was founded in 2007; I was 18 at the time and had just left high school. And since then we have rolled out programmes to over 6000 learners.

M: And do you target particular schools?

S: Yes, well the business model we run is obviously rural schools and schools in previously disadvantaged areas we do not charge. Umm… so what we do is we have given programmes to private schools particularly in Johannesburg; we have worked with a number of private schools whom we charge. And we also go out to rural schools and roll out our programmes for free.

M: So what was the concept behind formulating these programmes?

S: The basic theme was: you know when you’re at school you get to Grade 11 and you want to become a prefect or whatever but some 40 year old person who runs a campsite is telling you how to lead. And we thought… why not get leaders who are young, who lead at school, who can be relevant to these young children to actually write something that matters to them that matters to the school children to go out and teach leadership. So, we spent 6months writing out programmes.

There are various modules we do, we do a leadership one, public speaking, personal development and one in which we try to get them have a vision for their lives.

M: How does it work, what do the learners do… do they attend or do they read the programmes?

S: There are two components: we go out and give workshops and instead of giving one workshop for 5hours and leaving forever, what we do is we go in once every 2 weeks in a term. So we do 4 modules per term. It is obviously us facilitating the workshop but then what we also give them is a manual they can take home and read which has all the material pertaining to the programme in a systematic format.

M: And then do you check up on the learners to see if the programme is working and how is your interaction with them?

S: We do, it is something that we take very seriously. Well firstly, we do not like starting with Grade 12 learners, in fact, we prefer to start with Grade 8s. What is the point of learning leadership when you get to the end of school? So in the first school we ever went into we started with their Grade 8s and now they have called us to come back for their Grade 9s, so we are probably going to take them through their whole schooling career doing modules like that. But I think even just four times is good enough for seeing them through. We cannot see them everyday of our lives but rather that then just once.

M: Seeing as you are in Cape Town when do you go back to Johannesburg to check up on everyone else?

S: Umm, well, I go back during the holidays but we have a core group of people who are directing the Johannesburg branch and we have also done some work in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. In Cape Town my friend Mpumi and I, are currently starting up the Grow2lead Cape Town branch. And that requires us building a team here. In fact last year in September we had a conference where we invited various schools here at the University which was very good.

M: Now tell me about the founders, who are they?

S: firstly I must mention that we are a very diverse team comprising of 2 women and 3 men: Mpumi Tshabalala, Sule Burger, Puso Thahane and Warren Chalklen. And the small matter of me. We all met on the Johannesburg Junior City Council when we were 17. They are all amazing young leaders.

M: What motivated you as a team?

S: I think the 2 key things were what I had mentioned in the beginning in particular this idea of leadership because, we have been exposed to leadership positions in school and we saw how these positions had not only shaped us but once you form a leader that leader can give back to the community which the leader leads. So we really saw that as a niche that we wanted to fill. In addition to that, we wanted to started a business and learn entrepreneurial skills so we had to register the business and form a profit structure. Nevertheless, we did not wish to just start any old business. We wanted to start a business that would give back, to some extent, to society at the same time.

M: Are you involved in any other projects?

S: Yes, I am involved in a non-profit organization, The African Schools Debating Championships.

M: How do you manage being at University and running a business?

S: Hahaha… I am still asking myself that question…hahaha!  It’s a question of balance and intricate planning. You have to plan ‘when is my day to sleep’ 2 weeks in advance. You will be amazed at how much you can do and at this time in our lives we should be doing as much as we can.

M: What are your interests?

S: Soccer, reading, socializing (interacting with people), music, I released an album it was called The Royal School of Hip Hop. We released it when we were about 16, still young and naïve.  And I am currently recording an album.

M: What inspires Sizwe?

S: Finding a solution to our social and economic inequality. We have not awoken to our true potential and being able to at least think about the probability of finding solutions to these problems, which are not only exclusive to South Africa but, to Africa as a whole is inspiring. And the following mottos I live by inspire me; ‘Aspire to Inspire’ and ‘LEARN BUILD and GROW’.

M: Anyone you look up to?

S: Various people; my mother in particular, Steven Gerrad from Liverpool (soccer inspires me), President Barack Obama, various philosophers and various political theorists as well.

M: Do you regard yourself as being a role model to young children?

S: I would like to think so, I try to be, and I believe it is one way that we can give young people something to aspire to. Yet at the same time I am definitely not where I think I could be and I still feel that I have much to do and much to achieve.

M: What is your take on Women’s Day?

S: I never cease to fail to acknowledge the role women have played in my life. We need to start taking cognizance of the role women have played in our lives- everyday. If Women’s Day helps us to remember that then I suppose it is a good thing.

M: Are there any women who impress you in business?

S: Umm… now you are making the playing field hard because I have to compare them to my mother… I would have to say my Godmother; Ziona Jacobs. Buyelwa Sonjica, our current Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs. And Angela Merkel; the German Chancellor.

M: South Africa is currently debating the issue of transformation, what is your thought on that?

S: Firstly, we have to say on the issue that it is one that is very close to people’s hearts whatever side of the debate they’re on. I think we all tend to agree more than we disagree on the issue it is just the wording that sometimes wrong foots us. I think we all agree that we need to redress apartheid and we also all agree that diversity in any institution is a bonus and is a good thing, something that we should aim to achieve. So the question is not on the core issues we agree on the question is, how do we achieve them. I believe we do need to be cognizant of race as we try to address it, because of the fact that race as defined by the old regime is what has gotten us into this situation. Nevertheless, similarly we cannot be ignorant of economical and social issues, in particular economic class and we need to take that into account when we try to address transformation. Finally, I will say that institutional mechanisms can only do so much; you can put people in the same room of different hues for 100 years but to get them to actually talk to each other and interact is a whole different ballgame and I believe that is what our generation has to start thinking about now. We are in the same room but how are we going to reach across the room and try to understand each other.

“Aspire to Inspire and LEARN BUILD and GROW”

M: Your thoughts on our country?

S: Our country is amazing and people need to understand that. We are exposed to a great breadth of experience and this is not just culturally, racially or politically but economically as well.

M: Any future Plans?

S: In terms of the next 2 years it would definitely be excelling at my degree and establishing the Grow2lead Cape Town branch. And I would like to study further (do my masters) and venture into the corporate sector in South Africa and global politics after that.

M: Any words of encouragement you wish to share with the youth who aspire to start their own business?

S: There are two as mentioned earlier; Aspire to inspire and Learn Build and Grow!!!

“Aspire to inspire” and “LEARN, BUILD and GROW!!!”