Gifftid Origins - Mxolisi
Aug 29, 2023
Mxolisi Nkutha
My inspiration
My journey into the impact world was always inspired by my late grandmother, who raised my deaf aunt as a single parent. This gave her a fresh perspective into the challenges of raising a child with disabilities. So when she retired from her government job, she invested her life savings and pension funds into building an Early childhood development centre for disabled children. I remember vividly my grandmother in her small car, with 10-15 children and on her way to deliver all the children to their respective homes. That one action and step has resulted in our centre having over 70 children with profound disabilities.
It was this experience that highlighted, how we can all make a difference and how our actions and life can live on even when we are not here. It was this experience that shaped my outlook on life.
Keeping a promise and following your heart
I made a promise to my late grandmother in 2020, a few weeks before she passed away. That I would ensure the continuation of her centre and legacy. So 2 years after her passing in 2022, I decided to resign from my corporate job to work at the centre and keep a promise I made to her. I'm currently the Executive Director of the Kwa-Thema stimulation centre and my job is to ensure the centre keeps its door open and it still provides quality education to children with disability in poor areas of South Africa. This has been one of the most fulfilling and life changing jobs, seeing the impact of a child who couldnt walk, now walk or who couldnt talk, now talk.
Oxford journey
It was while I was working at our centre, when just like my grandmother I decided to use my pension payout to attend Oxford University Social finance class. Seems my family has a thing for blowing pension savings, but never did I imagine it would open a world of opportunities and friendships across the world but most importantly meet this incredible group of people, who would begin on this crazy journey of starting Gifftid. It still feels almost surreal, that Im part of this incredible tech start-up
………To be continued