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Monday 08:00 - 17:00 Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00 Wednesday 08:00 - 17:00 Thursday 08:00 - 17:00 Friday 08:00 - 16:00

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Nation Builder unites social investors and nonprofits, fostering collaboration and enabling impactful initiatives for sustainable social change.

Proteas of Mzansi: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/ Your business is the key to a better South Africa! Nation Builder equips businesses to maximise their social impact by supplying them with expert resources, and connecting them to like-minded partners. Find out more at www.proudnationbuilder.co.za

28/10/2026

Our recent Nation Builder Midday Mingles across Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape brought member organisations together for meaningful conversations about one of the sector’s most important priorities: recruiting, developing, and retaining talent.

Building on our Collabs theme of Multigenerational Leadership, the conversations explored how organisations can create environments that support growth, develop emerging leaders, and carry forward institutional knowledge.

The Midday Mingles are about more than networking. They create a space for organisations to learn from one another, share practical insights and experiences, and identify opportunities to co-create and collaborate across the sector.

A special thank you to our member organisations for sharing their experiences, insights, and approaches to building and retaining talent. 🌟

These conversations remind us that strengthening the social impact sector requires investing in people, learning from one another, and creating opportunities to grow and lead together.

Thank you to all our members and participants for contributing to these conversations and helping build a stronger, more connected social impact ecosystem. 🌱

16/10/2026

Join us for our final Western Cape Social Worker Initiative of 2026 on Friday, 06 November 2026, from 08:30–12:00 at The Polo Pavilion by Back’s, Val de Vie Estate, Paarl.

As we head into the final stretch of a meaningful year across the social impact sector, we invite social workers to join us for a hearty networking breakfast, and a morning of shared learning and reflection.

We’ll hear from our inspirational guest speaker, Kelly Morkel, before moving into an interactive Journal Club discussion, where attendees will also have the opportunity to earn CPD points.

It’s our last gathering of the year — a chance to pause, connect with fellow social workers, celebrate the work you’ve carried throughout the year and end 2026 together in community.

🎟️ Tickets: R150 per person
📍 The Polo Pavilion by Back’s, Val de Vie Estate, Paarl
⏰ 08:30–12:00
📅 Friday, 06 November 2026

Space is limited, and unfortunately, we cannot accommodate social auxiliary workers at this stage. Registration closes Tuesday, 03 November, so be sure to secure your seat.

🔗 Click on the link to register and purchase your ticket: https://nationbuilder.co.za/etn/western-cape-social-worker-initiative-november-2026/

We look forward to sharing one final morning of connection, learning and collective support with you before we close out the year.

07/10/2026

South Africa Doesn’t Have a Talent Shortage. It Has a Door Shortage.

Lyndi Lawson-Smith has a problem with the language of “helping”. It assumes that the person receiving help begins from a position of deficit, and that somebody else somehow manufactures their success.

Her years of working with young people have convinced her of almost exactly the opposite. The talent was there all along.

Lyndi’s turning point came while running a learnership. Among the participants was a young woman whom Lyndi still describes as one of the most talented people she has worked with. What she lacked was not ability. It was access.

Young South Africans should not be treated as a beneficiary category. They are, as she puts it, “a workforce the world hasn’t met yet.”

For Lyndi, the lesson stayed: the work is not about rescuing young people. It is about deliberately opening doors that unequal systems have kept closed.
Lyndi Lawson-Smith has made it her work to build more doors.

Discover Lyndi’s full story, and meet all ten 2026 Proteas of Mzansi, on the Initiatives page of the Nation Builder website: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/

05/10/2026

Every Child Has the Right to Joy

Growing up in KwaZulu-Natal in a conservative household, Ushama understood that there were established ideas about what the lives of young Indian women should look like. She chose differently. She chose music.

It was not considered a particularly reputable career choice in the environment she came from, and pursuing it required sacrifice. Ushama enrolled at the University of Cape Town’s music school and funded her own studies by working at restaurants along Rondebosch Main Road.

She went on to complete a Bachelor of Music Education Honours at UCT and a Master of Business Administration through the University of Reading and Henley Business School.

Today, her leadership reaches children across seven of South Africa’s nine provinces.

Through the Field Band Foundation, Ushama remains committed to adding value to the lives of more than 5,000 children reached daily. What drives her is a conviction born partly from her own life: circumstances should never be allowed to make the final decision about a child’s future.

Discover Ushama’s full story, and meet all ten 2026 Proteas of Mzansi, on the Initiatives page of the Nation Builder website: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/

02/10/2026

This Heritage Day, as we celebrate our nation’s heritage and culture, we reflect on our greatest responsibility: safeguarding the future of South Africa- our children. 💛

Protecting children isn’t just about written policies on a shelf; it’s a daily, lived commitment that shapes safe, dignified environments where every child can thrive.

We recently wrapped up our 3-part 2026 Child Protection Workshop Series, presented in partnership with Arise:

May | Leading Safe Spaces: Grounding safeguarding in ethical leadership and organisational values.
August | Building the Foundation: Navigating SA legislative frameworks, trauma-informed care, and mandatory reporting responsibilities.
September | Beyond the Policy: Turning policy into daily practice through safe recruitment, clear SOPs, and protective workplace cultures.

A massive thank you to the Arise facilitators, Danielle Moosajie and Thabani Dube, and to all the dedicated NPO teams and social workers who joined us in building safer communities across South Africa! 🙌

Together, let’s make child protection a way of life. 🌟

📲 Need safeguarding tools or resources? Visit the link in our bio to learn more about Nation Builder membership and upcoming events, or email [email protected]!

30/09/2026

A Rainbow of Possibility

Levona Solomons has lived much of her life inside systems that were not designed with her in mind.

She was born in Paarl and contracted polio as a child, resulting in a physical disability. Accessing the care she needed meant spending significant parts of her childhood away from her family, moving between Princess Alice Home, Lady Michaelis Home and Maitland Cottage, homes for children with disabilities in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.

Inaccessible transport. Inaccessible buildings. Inaccessible workplaces. Exclusion from physical activities at school. Stigma and discrimination. The loneliness of growing up apart from a family whose own rhythm continued developing while she was away.

After years of struggling to secure employment, she was recruited as a nuclear radiation safety officer in a laboratory researching radiation therapy for cancer patients.

Eventually, she left laboratory work to answer what she describes as a calling to serve people with disabilities.

Today, Levona is CEO of the Arise and Shine Initiative for People with Disabilities and a board member of the W**e Industry Ethical Trade Association (WIETA). Her work reaches across the Cape W**elands, including Drakenstein, Witzenberg and Stellenbosch.

Discover Levona’s full story, and meet all ten 2026 Proteas of Mzansi, on the Initiatives page of the Nation Builder website: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/

🔗 Link in bio

28/09/2026

Hope Lives Here

Once a week, Faye Curtis does something deceptively simple. She sits with Grade 6 and 7 learners in a local school near Amaoti, Durban, helping them with literacy and reading.

There are larger responsibilities in her week. Faye serves on the board of Lungisani Indlela Trust and is deeply involved in the organisation’s day-to-day operations, from fundraising and social media to events, Safe House shopping and feeding initiatives. But the literacy sessions are among her favourite hours.

Perhaps because they embody what Faye believes about social change: small things matter when people keep showing up.

Discover Faye's full story, and meet all ten 2026 Proteas of Mzansi, on the Initiatives page of the Nation Builder website: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/

23/09/2026

She Learned the Fire

Jane Mpholo knows something about finding your voice after life has given you every reason to lose it.

The artist, educator, mentor and theatre-maker grew up in the dusty, warm streets of Botshabelo in the Free State, in a home she remembers as deeply loving. Her parents encouraged the boldness that would later become one of her defining qualities.

In 2013, while rehearsing a theatre production exploring gender-based violence, Jane spoke publicly about her own experience for the first time. Naming what had happened altered something fundamental. Theatre became not only a medium of performance, but a means of understanding, healing and creating conversations other people might otherwise avoid.

Jane describes her own work through the image of a phoenix. Everything intended to break her has become material for transformation.

Discover Jane’s full story, and meet all ten 2026 Proteas of Mzansi, on the Initiatives page of the Nation Builder website: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/

21/09/2026

Remember the Forgotten

At 63, the Provincial Director of Age-in-Action Western Cape has built her life’s work around the dignity and value of older persons. Her philosophy is captured by the image she uses to describe them: an expensive antique that has acquired cracks, scratches and chips over time, yet has lost none of its original worth.

For Irene, ageing should never diminish value.

Growing up, there was never an abundance of material wealth, but Irene remembers always having what they needed. More importantly, she watched her mother share what little they had. It helped lead her to social work.

Discover Irene’s full story, and meet all ten 2026 Proteas of Mzansi, on the Initiatives page of the Nation Builder website: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/

18/09/2026

Building the Township Economy From Within

When Ntsako Ngomana talks about township development, she is not speaking about communities she has observed from a distance. She is speaking about home.
Ntsako was born and raised in Tshiawelo, Soweto, in a family that struggled financially. Poverty affected more than what the family could afford. It shaped how she saw herself in relation to her peers, contributing to a lack of confidence that she would spend years learning to overcome.

Ntsako spent much of her career working in the male-dominated property and construction environment. During her years in construction, she repeatedly encountered individuals and small businesses with ability but little understanding of how to move forward. It reminded her how difficult it had been to navigate opportunity from within a township herself.

For Ntsako, communities must be part of building the economies that affect them.

Discover Ntako’s full story, and meet all ten 2026 Proteas of Mzansi, on the Initiatives page of the Nation Builder website: nationbuilder.co.za/initiatives/

Address

Head Office: Workshop17 Tabakhuis, Paarl/Cnr Tabak & Louws Street, Southern Paarl
Paarl
7646

Opening Hours

Monday	08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	08:00 - 17:00
Thursday	08:00 - 17:00
Friday	08:00 - 16:00

Telephone

+27218722365

Website

https://nationbuilder.co.za/

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