Wharton Students Aid Education in South Africa Students4Students Group Leads Business Workshops
By Ria Lacher, Wharton Journal, with Wharton Staff
On May 18, 30 Wharton students will travel to South Africa to conduct business workshops in the townships of Port Elizabeth.
The students will travel as the representatives of Students4Students (S4S), an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that seeks to apply private sector know-how to increase the efficiency and impact of education initiatives in developing countries.
32% of the population of Port Elizabeth is HIV-positive. Yet over 80% of young adults (ages 15-25) lack a comprehensive understanding of this disease that has directly affected many of them, often leaving them orphans and striking down several members of their families.
S4S partners with reputable NGOs, focused on education, that have a proven track record of results, fiscal responsibility, and organizational transparency. The student-led organization assists its partners through capital investment and strategic counsel, seeking to establish a spirit of philanthropy among future business leaders. It invests in education initiatives that target social ills and promote social advancement in developing parts of the world.
Students Apply Business Knowledge to Social Goals
For the second year, S4S is partnering with the Ubuntu Education Fund, a South African NGO focused on sustainable, community-owned and -operated education initiatives. S4S has pledged to raise funds for Ubuntu's Mpilo-Lwazi health education program, which reaches more than 55,000 people through health education classes in 24 township schools, including youth counseling, community outreach workshops, and sustainable food gardens.
"We are not a charity," says Ubuntu's president, 28-year-old Jacob Lief, C'99, who founded the organization as a Penn undergraduate. "We build sustainable programs with tangible goals." S4S has made a multi-year commitment to Ubuntu, through which it will continue to focus on South African projects for the next five years.
Clara Pang, WG'06, co-founder of S4S, describes the purpose of the trip: "S4S will bring a team of students to visit our partner organizations annually, not only to learn more about the communities in which we invest, but also to ensure the money we invest is spent efficiently.
We view the money that S4S directs to partner organizations as a social investment – measured in the same manner as in the for-profit world, albeit by different benchmarks. In the same spirit, we hold our partners accountable for results and assist them in areas offering opportunities for efficiency improvement."
Olivier Letant, WG'06, is heading the Wharton education initiative team for S4S, which will take an active role in creating the lesson plans for this year's trip.
"When I first went to South Africa last year and witnessed the dire conditions in the townships,” he recalls, “I was struck by the amount of initiatives Ubuntu had launched and their initial success. Training the staff at Ubuntu with some of our skills will boost their social investment returns and further improve Ubuntu's impact in these communities."
