Youth Skills Development
Our business model is made possible by our non-profit partner organisation IkamvaYouth. Through our partnership ikapadata gains access to streetwise fieldworkers who are right in their element while they collect data for our clients. With the local knowledge and language skills of our fieldworkers, we are able to gain insights into some of the most dynamic as well as most difficult to access parts of South Africa. Not only does our NGO partnership have logistical advantages for us as market researchers, but we also firmly believe hat the private sector has a public responsibility in highly unequal societies such as South Africa's. Through working closely with organisations like IkamvaYouth we prove that profitable business is not at odds with contributing to the greater good.
IkamvaYouth is a township-based education NGO, founded in 2003, focusing on improving high school learner performance and helping matriculants enter tertiary education. Its impact has been phenomenal, with learner performance rates in stark contrast to typical township education figures. This is principally achieved through a volunteer tutor programme which is primarily driven by former IkamvaYouth programme graduates (‘Ikamvites’). The linchpin of ikapadata’s relationship with IkamvaYouth is that fieldworker employment is limited to the best and most dedicated volunteer tutors, as an incentive and reward for their dedication. A consequence of employment by ikapadata for these volunteers is a much better chance to meet the financial demands of entering or staying in tertiary education.
ikapadata contributes to the stability of IkamvaYouth’s tutoring programme and seeks out other positive social partnerships in the future. It is our aim to have a positive impact on education and skills training in South Africa while pursing profitable business.
Saving Trees
Using mobile devices instead of pen and paper for huge amounts of data capturing has another crucial, if sometimes overlooked, advantage: you save a lot of trees. But our commitment to ethical business principles, and especially regarding the environment, goes beyond that. We strive to leave a minimal environmental footprint in our day-to-day operations, starting with paperless offices to having video-conferences instead of traveling for meetings, not because we think this is what our (potential) clients and partners want to hear, but because we firmly believe that it is the better choice from both a social as well as business perspective.
