Rotary International’s highlight for Africa: The Zone 22 Rotary Africa Centennial International Conference is fast approaching, with the highly anticipated African House of Friendship Virtual Projects Fair taking place from this Friday, 23 April.
This platform will see over 50 organisations showcase their community development programmes to delegates from within Africa and beyond, gaining exposure and exploring new collaborations and business opportunities.
Global reach
Local NGOs, organisations and Rotary clubs will share the impactful work that they’re doing on the ground with this captive global audience, including potential donors and funders.
Some of the exhibitors include SOS Children’s Village, Knysna Education Trust, The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, The Society for Animals in Distress, Tutudesk Foundation, Disaster Aid International, MAMAS Alliance, Action for Blind and Disabled Children and Operation Hunger.
Telling Africa’s stories
Headline sponsors African Brand Architects are looking forward to sharing the stories of organisations making a difference on the African continent. “Our role as marketing, communications and PR specialists, are to tell these stories on behalf of brands in Africa and for Africans.
Our anchor sponsorship of the Zone 22 Rotary Africa Centennial International Conference gives us an opportunity to hear about the incredible work that is being done and to engage with stakeholders who share Rotary’s mantra of ‘service above self’. We are looking forward to getting to know them on this virtual showcase,” says Natalia Rosa, African Brand Architects MD.
Community changemakers
Pillar sponsors include innovative grant-maker, Hlanganisa Institute for Development Southern Africa and Sešego Foundation, an NPO established to make a sustainable contribution to the wellbeing of the Southern African communities with a focus on skills based and corporate employee volunteerism.
Hlanganisa is excited to be participating in an event that enables civil society to learn from past successes and debate solutions for social challenges on the African continent.
“Hlanganisa’s participation in the event comes as Africa battles to assist those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, who survive through the support of the community-based organisations we work with. This is the right time to celebrate successes but also to think about what is most urgently needed in our unequal societies. We look forward to sharing with delegates why community organisations should be used to bring healthcare, economic empowerment and social support to the vulnerable over the next decade,” says Hlanganisa Executive Director Bongiwe Ndondo.
South Africa’s leading social investment fund manager and advisor, Tshikululu Social Investments is the pillar sponsor for the basic education and literacy session being held on Day 1 of the programme.
Facilitating impactful change is at the heart of what Tshikululu does, with basic education and literacy being one of the many areas that corporates in South Africa focus their social investment spend on. Tshikululu believes that all sectors, from early childhood development through to university level, are linked and that addressing issues needs to be done systemically, through partnerships between government, corporate SA and NPOs.
“Many of our corporate clients have and continue to play a pivotal role in addressing the challenges in the education system. We are proud to be part of this Rotary Africa Centennial celebration, to recognise the efforts taken over the last 100 years to create lasting change, and to highlight and network with some of Africa’s foremost thought leaders about how to best tackle the current challenges being faced,” says Tracey Henry, CEO of Tshikululu Social Investments.
Each sponsor will also be hosting their own virtual exhibition to share what they do with all virtual exhibition attendees.
The Rotary African Centennial conference which kicks off on Saturday will see delegates from around the world gather online to hear from and network with leading visionaries, pioneers, leaders and icons to reflect and celebrate a century of doing good and facilitating impactful socio-economic change on the continent.
