Mafule Moswane, co-founder of the Faculty of Best Advisory (FBA), told The Daily Vox there were multiple reasons for the formation of the organisation. Moswane was speaking to The Daily Vox amidst the organisation’s ten year celebrations.
Moswane comes from a small village called Ga-Masemola in Limpopo. His community had quite a bad reputation and there were stigmas around the people who came from the village. This along with many other reasons inspired him and others to start the FBA.
The FBA is an organisation that aims to empower people through the provision of information. They aim to ensure that communities have access to information with a specific focus on education. Their flagship programme is career guidance for students from rural and township areas through facilitating their access to institutions of higher learning.
Moswane said their organisation does something many others do not, which is they help students to apply. They also assist them with application fees and funding opportunities. When they come to university after having been accepted, FBA mentors them through their mentorship programme as a way of ensuring that they do not become academically excluded.
The third level is the professional mentorship programme. This is when the students who are nearing the end of their academic career, are mentored by professionals. This is to guide them with accessing of work opportunities, preparing for interviews and so on. Moswane said this third programme is important because they cannot let “people fail at the last hurdle”.
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The inspiration
He wanted to change the narrative of the community through storytelling and being a good example from the community. When Moswane went to university, he got a bursary that required him to give back to communities. That was another reason which inspired the formation of the FBA. Moswane and his cofounders are all from the same village and they all attended university together.
Inspired by the spirit of Charlotte Maxeke and the spirit of ubuntu, Moswane said they wanted to bring their fellow brothers and sisters along with them.
While at university, Moswane also faced discrimination for the way he spoke English. He said this was a traumatic experience and he didn’t want anyone else to experience this.
“So I said let us do the work that will prepare other young people who are coming after us to these institutions of higher learning so that they can make progress,” said Moswane.
He and the other co-founders also wanted to be part of a generation that encouraged excellence, a reading culture and making education fashionable. More importantly they wanted to break the cycle of poverty and create economic opportunities for people.
“That’s why we say we are united in excellence,” Moswane said.
In December 2022, the organisation will officially celebrate ten years in existence. Moswane said they have impacted thousands of young people’s lives over the years. This has been from mentoring young people and assisting them through university. It is also through the people who have passed through the organisation and now volunteer to mentor young people on their journeys.
Moswane said the organisation has grown to one which has “national footprint, continental reach and global impact”.
Beyond the impact that the organisation has had on young people’s lives, Moswane is proud of its overall growth. One of the programmes that is close to his heart is the organisation’s leadership programme. Through his current studies in the United States of America, Moswane is working on a leadership program geared towards South Africa.
“We don’t just want to produce employees but we want to produce employers,” he said.
In a nutshell, Moswane said FBA is about those who have the capacity to create opportunities for others doing so. The organisation wants to create the future leaders of tomorrow.
Even with all their achievements over the past ten years, Moswane believes that there is still much more work to be done. He said celebrating the ten years feels like a dream.
“We have achieved our ancestor’s wildest goals… What we have achieved in the past gives me hope for what we can and must achieve in the future,” he said. Among the goals for the future titled Plan 2032, the organisations wants to raise R10 million and impact on around 10 million people’s lives
More information about FBA can be found here:
Website: www.facultyofbestadvisory.org.za
Email: Mafule@facultyofbestadvisory.org.za and Sibusiso@facultyofbestadvisory.org.za and Info@facultyofbestadvisory.org.za
Facebook: Faculty of Best Advisory – FBA
Instagram: Faculty of Best Advisory (@OfficialFBA)
YouTube :The Faculty of Best Advisory
[LinkedIn :Faculty of Best Advisory
