On Thursday, 8 December 2016, the ten recipients of the 2016 MSA LEAD Fellowships arrived on campus for an event that was the culmination of their hard work this year; MSA LEAD Now. Each of the fellows were given an opportunity to pitch their initiatives to a panel of experts and receive guidance and advice on how to best present their social impact programmes. The event also included an award ceremony in recognition of the fellows’ incredible achievements so far.
The pitching session and award ceremony were preceded by a panel discussion and a social-entrepreneurial workshop, where the fellows were introduced to new methods and techniques of interaction with potential funders and partners.
The event marked the beginning of an exciting and challenging journey ahead for the fellows, as they will soon participate in an advanced training schedule, covering topics such as leadership development, storytelling and project management. Each fellow will also receive US $2,000.00 (approximately R27, 000.00) in funding for their programmes. This year-long fellowship will benefit the recipients and their initiatives in a variety of other ways, including helping them to identify mentors, connecting them to partner organisations, training them for media interaction and helping them to increase visibility of their programmes in the media.
We can’t wait to see where this journey takes these incredible young social entrepreneurs next, and the positive impacts each of their programmes will bring to communities around South Africa. Find out more about each of the fellows and their initiatives here.
About MSA LEAD
The MSA LEAD Programme, launched in 2016 by MSA in partnership with Laureate International Universities and the International Youth Foundation (IYF), is a fellowship programme for young social entrepreneurs between the ages of 16-29 from across South Africa. Annually, the programme recognises 10 youth-led projects that that are positively impacting their communitites.