Kagiso Trust InBrief Issue#17 August 2015 Aug 2015 | Page 10

www.kagiso.co.za

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lobally, as in South
Africa, NGO’s are
challenged by the
scarcity of resources.
Even successful NGO’s
such as South African based poverty
alleviation organisation, Kagiso
Trust are reminded of this reality.
Speaking at the workshop, Thabiso
Ratsomo, a Kagiso Trust trustee
acknowledged that it had taken
the NGO over 20 years to become
sustainable, and that to this day, the
organisation relies on government
and corporate partnerships to deliver
the development services it does.
“Kagiso Trust didn’t have it easy.
When the European Union (EU)
decided to redirect funding to the
South African government following
democracy, we made a choice not to
close down because we thought the
work of the trust was still relevant.
At that time the EU was our main
donor and their decision to pull out
presented a very difficult period for
the organisation, but this also gave
us the opportunity to reassess how
we operated and to consider thinking
and strategies that would overcome
this challenge,” Ratsomo said. Over
400 guests who represent NGO’s and
various community organisations
attended the panel discussion and
workshop at the Imbizo Hall to pose
and ask questions relating to the
topic.
Investments
On the eve of the democratic
elections, Kagiso Trust launched
its investment arm Kagiso Trust
Investments which changed the
direction of the NGO, ensuring its
sustainability while allowing it to
continue with its development work.
Mokgethi Tshabalala, CEO of Thebe
Foundation agreed adding how Thebe
had taken a similar approach with
Thebe Foundation in setting up Thebe
Investments. “Thebe Investment
Corporation was started in 1992 by

an NGO and is now sitting at a worth
of R6 billion and the community trust
is still a shareholder.” Tshabalala
shared with the audience the
importance of looking at ways within
your organisation to become more
sustainable. “If you are in feeding,
one basic thing that you constantly
need is mealie-meal. Instead of
procuring at Makro, for example,
talk to the Department of Trade and
Industry about producing your own
food .” Tshabalala mentioned that
the advent of B-BBEE meant that big
companies were looking for strategic
partners.
“The main problem lies with the way
Non Profit Organisation’s procure
services”, added Khosi Mvulane,
Founder and Managing Director
of G.A.D Consulting Services. G.A.
D is a Governance, Auditing and
Accounting firm that provides its
services to NPOs and SMEs. “In our
experience sustainability isn’t there
from the beginning. For example,
you can’t run an HIV NGO if that’s
no longer the reason South Africans
are dying. You need to address
the problem, a problem in your
community. Additionally, you need to
keep evolving as your environment
evolves”, said Mvulane. She also
made the point that many NGO’s find
it difficult to account to their donors
because they are not acquiring
services from properly registered
service providers.
Another issue standing in the way
of growth in the NGO sector is the
fear to collaborate with other NGO’s.
“Often NGO’s spread their resources
too wide and for this reason NGO
leaders find it difficult to be experts
at anything.” Mvulane added,
“NGO’s need to decide which areas
to focus on and in which projects
monies belong in.” In their bottomsup approach, Kagiso Trust has always
been rooted in the community,
prioritizing
poverty
alleviation
through education. With this in mind

10| Kagiso Trust InBrief August 2015

Kagiso Trust will host several such
community engagement workshops
around the country during its 30th
anniversary celebration in order to
inspire and to offer lessons learnt on
its journey with other NGO’s looking
to become sustainable.
“Our sector is at the cutting edge of
providing solutions and we believe
in the power of the NGO sector,”
Themba Mola, acting CEO of Kagiso
Trust told audiences. “We
are
looking at working with different
NGO’s and also receiving their pearls
of wisdom to address the issue of our
current relevance, this we believe
will be accomplished by shifting our
mind set of always receiving and, as
we have realised, make use of the
other alternatives to funding such
as through investments.” This is
the second of six panel discussions
that Kagiso Trust will be hosting
in accordance with its ‘pearls of
wisdom’ campaign which aligns with
the organisation’s 30th anniversary
this year.
Celebrating 30 years
The ‘pearls of wisdom’ campaign