“Evolve South Africa does not want to be a BBBEE legislation ‘box ticker’, instead we want to be a significant contributor to the social transformation of South Africa, thus as a company we provide considerably more than what is required from BBBEE legislation. We have launched Evolve South Africa so we can escalate our focus on BBBEEE by contributing more to the children of South Africa via our various developmental programmes,” says Evolve SA’s MD Adam Ginster.
Through its corporate social investment programme, Kotula (which means to harvest in seTswana) responds to the urgent and specific needs of the Soweto community by delivering a feeding, relief and a dance academy project. All these programmes support and empower orphaned and vulnerable children as well as women and elderly residents in the community.
On Friday, 24 March 2017, Evolve Executive Search South Africa alongside its partners, which includes the Department of Agriculture, Kotula’s patron Moyikwa Sisulu, NGOs and the community of Soweto, hosted a thanksgiving ceremony for farm managers who plough and tend to the 11 farms that provide sustenance for their community.
Kotula sources volunteers in the community and facilitates training through the Department of Agriculture. After the first ploughing and sewing of each farm, volunteers are employed as managers and their monthly salaries are funded by Evolve. This ensures the farms are professionally run, and that children are fed with nutritional and balanced meals each week. The project also provides employment opportunities and social upliftment.
During the thanksgiving ceremony, Evolve will announce its ambitious initiative to take the Kotula Dance Academy to a global stage with a touring production comprising children from the community. Currently the Kotula Dance Academy consists of 30 dance bursaries with Katz Dance studio in Sandton. The children are tutored every weekend by certified dance instructors. The children have performed the Mini Lion King at The Wits Theatre and have also participated in a flash-mob events at Southgate Mall and Maponya Mall.
“Our core business is bringing together the world’s brightest minds with top-performing private and public organisations. We are exposed to many talented human beings, and it is this greatness we easily recognise in children. Hunger and lack of spaces to play and express themselves can rob a child of their childhood and jeopardise their future. Through our various initiatives, we want to make sure some basic human rights of children are met so they can grow into healthy and smart adults,” comments Evolve’s senior manager: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Mpho Mugivhi.
