Nangamso Koza and Lihlumelo Toyana, the co-authors who collaborated with Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Jonathan Jansen to compile South African Great Teachers.
Young leaders from 18 African countries converged on the United States of America for the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a flagship programme of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Among the 2015 cohort was a University of the Free (UFS) State alumnus, Nangamso Koza.
Koza was hosted by the prestigious Howard University in Washington for a six -week long intensive Public Management course. She believes that her experience opened many different doors, which had been difficult to enter in the past.
“We now form part of this pool of young Africans, who collaborate on initiatives across these borders. We have an opportunity to network and be mentored by some of the foremost African leaders,” she said.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship began in 2014, with the purpose of providing a platform where young African leaders are enabled to enhance their skills. Upon graduating, fellows have access to continuous professional development opportunities, mentoring, networking, and training, as well as seed funding to subsidise the organisations, businesses, or ideas they intend to implement back in their home countries.
Leading rural communities by example
Five years ago, when she was a BA Communication Sciences student at the UFS, Koza founded the Inqubela Foundation. Under the foundation’s banner, multiple developmental programmes have taken flight, such as facilitating leadership development camps for over 2000 learners in more than 28 underprivileged schools in the Eastern Cape, renovating libraries, establishing books clubs that operate spelling bee competitions, in addition to distributing approximately 300 packets of sanitary towels to learners who are in need.
Some of Koza’s accolades include being named 2013’s Top 200 Young South African by the Mail and Guardian. Prior to serving as a Multimedia Resource Coordinator at The Es'kia Institute, she co-authored South African Great Teachers with the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof Jonathan Jansen, and Lihlumelo Toyana in 2011.
Towards a lifetime of empowerment
Her experiences at what she referred to as “one of the strongest institutions” encouraged Koza to continue her efforts of empowering rural communities through literacy and leadership development. The young philanthropist intends to use the social capital earned in Washington to continue enriching the lives of many South Africans.
The US has recently endorsed and committed to support a newly designed leadership programme which is responsible for grooming young leaders under the umbrella of the foundation. “The Department of Education for Queenstown District had tasked the Inqubela Foundation to develop leaders in schools,” explained Koza, hence the establishment of the Representative Council of Learners (RCL) Leadership Development Project.