Global business software leader SAP hosted a non-profit and non-Governmental (NPOs/NGOs) summit yesterday at the Hyatt Hotel in Rosebank Johannesburg. The summit was convened to showcase the benefit of the SAP Business One solution and also to highlight the global software giant’s corporate social responsibility policy as well as the software donation programme for non-profits. Attendees included managing directors, partners and operational managers of leading organisations from across South Africa. 

Many NPOs and NGOs face a myriad of challenges including developing effective business strategy, financial management, inadequate facilities, marketing and fundraising, information management, human resources and collaboration. SAP’s Business One solution addresses many of these challenges as well as reducing operational costs. Amongst others, the benefits include improved efficiency and the ability to drive financial management in a more transparent manner.

Pankaj Pema, Head of SAP Business One in Africa, comments, “SAP and its partners, like many other organisations have a responsibility to create an enabling environment for all businesses irrespective of size. Our objective today was to showcase to leaders in the Non-profit sector that SAP solutions such as Business One are for all companies irrespective of size or industry”.

SAP, is committed to initiatives that work towards a sustainable world in which transparency and integrity are the building blocks of its foundation. “We believe that SAP technology is an enabler to helping NPOs run even better and helping them address industry challenges related to their operation and management functions” continues Pema.

The packed audience heard testimony about the benefits of the SAP Business One solution from illustrious organisations such as the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, Zambia centre for accounting studies, the James 1:27 Trust and the CIDA ICT academy. Speakers highlighted the ability to drive innovation, decentralised budget management, paperless audits and overall improvements in efficiency as some of the key benefits realised.

Sunil Geness, Corporate Affairs Executive for SAP Africa highlighted SAP’s corporate social responsibility policy, which has as its key pillars education and entrepreneurship whilst promoting economic and social equality in communities. He added that SAP’s software donation programme for non-profit organisations is delivered in collaboration with Sangotech, in South Africa, Botswana and Kenya. Currently the donation programme offers Xcelsius Engage http://www.sangotech.org/directory/104, SAP Business Objects BI On-Demand, and SAP Streamwork Professional http://www.sangotech.org/directory/183

“SAP continues to donate award-winning technology to more than 715 non-profit organizations around the world. Our solutions enable organizations to run better – improving performance, streamlining operations, and achieving business goals. By providing our solutions, and assistance to the non-profit organisations, we are enabling them to become more efficient, deliver more services, and ultimately helping the world run better” adds Geness.

Delegates at the summit received the SAP software commercial and donation offerings enthusiastically with a large number making enquiries for adoption on the side-lines of the summit.

Name: Jill Thorne 
Title: General Manager, Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and Centre

Thorne graduated B. Sc Honours in Geochemistry and is currently studying for an Executive MBA at UCT’s Graduate School of Business.

Thorne worked for Caltex Oil South Africa during the 1990s and participated in its international Strategic Analyst’s training programme in 1997.

Thorne has been the General Manager at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and Centre since 2006. During this period, the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation grew from an annual revenue of approximately R7 million to approximately R50 million. Thorne spearheaded the development of the administrative component that supported and managed this growth, and due to a large proportion of DTHF’s funding being foreign, has needed to manage these financial resources in a volatile rand exchange rate environment. Thorne’s current focus is on strategic systems analysis leading to institutional administrative and support service solutions and their deployment within the organisation.

Business Profile: The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF)

The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation (DTHF) developed from the HIV Research Unit at New Somerset Hospital in the early 1990s. The Unit was acclaimed as one of the first public clinics to offer antiretroviral therapy to those living with HIV. In January 2004, Professor Robin Wood and Associate Professor Linda-Gail Bekker registered the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation as a Section 21 non-profit organisation and established the head office at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town.

Supported by Emeritus Archbishop Desmond and Mrs Leah Tutu, the Foundation’s activities include HIV prevention, treatment and training, as well as tuberculosis screening and management among some of the most vulnerable communities of the Western Cape. The work is underpinned by innovative academic research undertaken by the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre (DTHC). The Centre, based at the University of Cape Town’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, operates symbiotically with the Foundation’s local field sites in the Nyanga area of Cape Town and Masiphumelele, Noordhoek.

The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre are integrated at the operational level, but they remain separate entities with separate governance structures and funding streams. DTHC projects are not governed by or accountable to the DTHF’s board of directors.

Pairing community-driven development and internationally acclaimed research, the DTHF envisions a brighter future where HIV is manageable and its presence diminished in South Africa’s communities.

Name: Robert Botha
Title: CEO, James 1:27 Trust

The Trust, founded in November 2004, was created in response to the plight of children at risk. South Africa, like the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, is at present in the full brunt of an HIV and AIDS epidemic. South Africa, with one in nine of the adult population HIV positive, and with 5.6 million people living with HIV out of a total population of 47 million, makes it a country with a serious problem. A consequence of which is that it has 1.5 million maternal orphans. As a result, the Trust, located at the Innovation Hub, in Pretoria, is committed to a social innovation project in which it is creating a platform that includes business information management systems and business intelligence tools, in order to scale present levels of care.

Its intention is to work towards enabling existing care-based organisations to double and redouble present levels of care from 15% to a target of 60%. In order to do this, it is advocating a “Virtual Adoption” model, in which the global village is mobilised to share responsibility with the local village in responding to the care of children at risk. In this regard, the African idiom that it takes a village to raise a child is given new intent. “Virtual adoption” is based on virtual cyber teams/clusters being matched through community-based organisations with vulnerable childcare units/families. The virtual teams, following a menu-driven set of options, sponsor specific services and needs in a designated and secure manner. The objective is for there to be no direct contact allowed between the sponsors and the children. The narratives and regular reporting on the progress of the children are posted on an electronic one-way window, allowing for sufficient emotional information without compromising the safety and identity of the children. We believe this to be a sustainable model for the future. While the South African Diaspora, as well as the anti-apartheid networks, offer valuable sources of international recruitment, South Africans themselves within the country need to be recruited. The Trust believes that traditional CSI needs to migrate to a social capital model in which employees, customers, clients and shareholders are mobilised.

In order to manage this innovative concept, the Trust has built what is referred to as the James 1:27 Care Platform. The IT platform consists of SAP Business One an Enterprise Resource Planning systems; PTC Windchill, a product life cycle management system; the James Remote Terminal, consisting at present of a mobile technology; as well as talent management software, including a monitoring and evaluation system, which is still being developed. To date, the James 1:27 Care Platform has been implemented at one of the pilot community-based partners, which has migrated from a traditional financial management system to SAP Business One and from Microsoft Excel to PTC Windchill.

What this means is that we have within our grasp major social innovation in which children at risk can be reached on a large scale. The care of children within family-based care units and the use of a child status index to determine vulnerability, as well as the implementation of holistic child development within a childcare plan and care cycle, is a major contribution to internationally accepted good practice.

SAP Partner: Xtendbi

Biographical profile: Robert Botha

Botha is at present the CEO of the James 1:27 Trust, a social enterprise, located at the Innovation Hub, in Pretoria. Botha has been a career diplomat with 18 years’ experience in international relations. Botha has served as a South African diplomat to Mauritius and France. He has worked in both bilateral and multilateral relations and has, for several years, served as a diplomatic trainer at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation’s Diplomatic Academy. Botha and his wife, Gail, have also served as associate pastors at Hatfield Christian Church. Botha completed undergraduate studies at Rhodes University and has completed a Master of Arts in the subject Social Behaviour Studies in HIV and AIDS at the University of South Africa (UNISA). In addition, he has completed courses in Conflict Resolution with the Centre for Conflict Resolution, and has done a Training Programme at the United Nations Leadership Academy, in Jordan. He has also completed an Advanced Training Programme in Multilateral Negotiations and Conference Diplomacy with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and has participated as a trainer with UNITAR in training programmes for southern African diplomats and ambassadors. Botha is at present, through the James 1:27 Trust, busy building at the Innovation Hub, in Pretoria, a Management System for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. Botha has also just recently completed a certificate programme in social entrepreneurship at the Gordon Institute of Business Studies (GIBS).

In terms of life purpose, Botha is committed to social justice through the development of an integrated approach to promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and enterprise development.

Name: Egret C Lengwe
Title: Manager – Research and Consultancy - Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies

Lengwe is one of the top senior managers at Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS). He heads the Research and Consultancy Department. He is a Fellow member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (FCCA) and Fellow member of the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (FZICA). He further holds an International Diploma in Project Management (IDPM), a Diploma in Accountancy, a Master of Science in Strategic Management (MSc), and is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA). He has also been trained in SAP Business Solution 1. He has 23 years’ of industrial experience, 13 of which as a civil servant in the Office of the Auditor-General up to Director Level, and 10 at ZCAS now. His exposure cuts across various disciplines, such as auditing and audit management, investigations, accounting and financial management, strategic management, project management and ICT. He has been involved in public discussions, providing advisory services and making presentations at various local and international fora to a cross-section of clients in public, private and NGO circles. In public life, Lengwe has been involved in various charity projects at church and in schools. He chairs two committees on audit and risk management and is a member of various committees. Lengwe is married with three sons and two daughters.

Business profile: Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS)

The Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS) is a leading provider of tuition in business and information technology courses in the southern African region. Established by an act of parliament No. 1 of 1989, the Centre has a mission to promote research and advancement of learning in accountancy, finance, marketing, banking, business administration, information technology and any other related studies in the region.

ZCAS has acquired international recognition for the quality of tuition it provides. It has produced consistently high examination pass rates and currently boasts of carrying the prestigious ACCA Platinum status.

SAP Partner: 4Most Systems Africa

Name: Bushy PA Mphahlele
Title: Chief Financial Officer, Nelson Mandela Foundation

Business Profile: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory delivers the core work of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1999 to support its founder’s ongoing engagement in worthy causes on his retirement as president of South Africa. The Foundation is registered as a trust, with its board of trustees comprising prominent South Africans selected by the founder. The Centre of Memory was inaugurated by Nelson Mandela on 21 September 2004, and endorsed as the core work of the Foundation in 2006. The Centre focuses on three areas of work: the Life and Times of Nelson Mandela, Dialogue for Social Justice and Nelson Mandela International Day. The Centre works closely with its sister organisations, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation. It co-ordinates its activities with those of other institutions that have a stake in its founder’s legacy, including the 46664 Campaign, the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, the Nelson Mandela Museum and the Robben Island Museum. The Centre focuses on three areas of work, including the Life and Times of Nelson Mandela: Memory resources documenting the life and times of Nelson Mandela are to be found in an extraordinary range of locations, both within South Africa and internationally. These resources are embedded in various legal and other jurisdictions.

The Centre of Memory:

* Locates, documents and promotes the preservation of these scattered resources
* Collects and curates Mandela’s personal archive
* Promotes public access to these resources
* Facilitates research by individuals and institutions
* Utilises an array of information-delivery platforms to make information available to global and local audiences

Dialogue for Justice:

Dialogue is fundamental to the legacy of Nelson Mandela and to South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. Dialogue is at once a vital instrument for addressing critical social issues and the most effective vehicle for sharing memory, for growing it, and for engaging it in the promotion of justice.

The Centre of Memory:

* Provides dialogical platforms for all its memory work
* Undertakes research and initiates advocacy on critical social issues impacting on its mandate
* Hosts or convenes dialogue processes
* Promotes co-ordination, resource-sharing and collaboration between memory institutions
* Disseminates the results and lessons learned from dialogue processes

Nelson Mandela International Day:

If the legacy of Nelson Mandela’s life and work is to be dynamic, it must be “owned” by current and future generations. It must be accessible to everyone, and applied in constantly changing contexts of time and place. The Mandela Day campaign was inaugurated as such a vehicle to achieve this. Its objective is to inspire individuals to take action to help change the world for the better, and in doing so, build a global movement for good. Ultimately, it seeks to empower communities everywhere. The campaign’s slogan is: “Take Action; Inspire Change; Make Every Day a Mandela Day.” Individuals and organisations are free to participate in Mandela Day as they wish. We do, however, urge them to find inspiration for their contribution in the legacy of Nelson Mandela and to adhere to the ethical framework of “service to one’s fellow human”.

Brief Resume: Bushy PA Mphahlele

Academic qualifications:
* Bachelor of Commerce
* Current Studies – CIMA student

Employment Record: Training Contract (Articles)
Period: 1996 – 1999
Employer - ABD&T Chartered Accountants SA
Position – Trainee Accountant (Article Clerk)
Duties – General bookkeeping and execution of audit programmes.

Period: 1999 – 2001
Employer - Sithole AB&T CA (SA)
Position – Audit Manager
Duties - Managing the audit assignment from the planning stage up to the reporting stage; financial statement preparation and presentation to clients, budget performance and monitoring; internal controls and risk assessment reviews and staff management.

Period: 2001 – 2004
Employer – Christian Children’s Fund
Position – National Finance Manager
Duties - Manage national office’s full financial and accounting operations in accordance with CCF policies and procedures (GAAP); prepare and submit monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports to the National Director, Regional Finance Specialist and Senior Accountant in Richmond [USA]; budget monitoring on a monthly basis; management of funds disbursed to the national office from other sources (grant/project management); manage the implementation of e-Cedar Financials system within the southern and Eastern Africa regions – 2003/2004.

Period: 2001 – 2006
Employer – Christian Children’s Fund
Position – Regional Finance Manager – Africa
Duties - Reviewing and monitoring of the transactions going into the general ledger for each national office within the region before the trial balance can be finalised for the month; guide and facilitate the effective use and management of financial resources of the region; participate in the CCF international finance network - over 45 countries.

Period: 2006 – 2007
Employer – Accenture
Position – Project Manager
Duties – Project planning, implementation and reporting – various projects, including SARS – debt modernisation.

Period: 2007 – to date
Employer – Nelson Mandela Foundation
Position – Chief Financial Officer
Duties – To provide overall leadership and management of the support function, by promoting financial sustainability, accountability, reliability and accuracy of financial information to be used by decision-makers and maximise the utilisation of resources. Pioneered the transition from legacy system to SAP Business one in 2009.

Name: Khulu Ntuli
Title: ICT Manager, CIDA

Khulu Ntuli is the CIDA ICT Academy manager, which is one of the schools of excellence at the CIDA City Campus.

Prior to being appointed as the Academy Manager, Ntuli has worked in the ICT environment for about 15 years and has held positions such as Incident Manager and Change Manager.

History of CIDA City Campus

CIDA (Community and Individual Development Association) City Campus was established to provide higher education that was designed to encourage human, economic and social development. In the mid-1990s, CIDA’s founders, Taddy Blecher and Richard Pycke, ran projects in township schools to upgrade levels of education. Pass rates increased dramatically and this created the impetus for starting an African tertiary institution. The founders had found that high school students, with great effort, would pass their final year, but had no prospects to further their education and were stuck in a spiral of poverty with no money for further education and little possibility of finding work.

CIDA and Monitor Company put together a think-tank to conceptualise an attainable, innovative educational model and the result was the formation of CIDA City Campus in January 2000. The model that was developed to facilitate wider access to tertiary education for learners was CIDA City Campus’ low-cost, high-quality educational model.

Central to the implementation of the educational model was the role of donors, given that CIDA, as a private non-profit entity, receives no government funding. CIDA was and continues to be funded mainly by leading visionary local South African corporations and individuals and international donors who have chosen to partner with CIDA to build this dream of a new destiny for southern Africa through meaningful higher education.

Who we are

CIDA City Campus provides higher education designed to encourage human, economic and social development. CIDA aims to transform its students into leaders of their communities who will help advance the socio-economic transformation of the country and the broader region. Thus, CIDA is positioned to offer wider access to higher education to students who are historically disadvantaged at a low cost to them. Students at CIDA receive tuition scholarships and the educational experience helps them realise their personal, academic and financial aspirations.

CIDA’s current offering of one degree with various schools of excellence established to provide access to market-related qualifications for students is considered distinctive and value-adding. The institution has built in community development and personal development programmes as well as work-based learning programmes to prepare students for the world of work. Significantly, CIDA has the potential to meet higher education policy initiatives, such as community engagement and service through its product offering.
* SAP Partner: Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo Systems

Name: David Barnard
Title: Executive Director, SANGONeT

David Barnard is the Executive Director of the Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT), based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Barnard was previously the Manager of the Programme for Development Research (PRODDER) at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) (1992-2000). He is a Founding Member of the African Institute for Corporate Citizenship (AICC) and Advisory Board Member of the African Press Organisation. In the recent past, he served on the National e-Skills Council and the Presidential National Commission on the Information Society for Development (PNC-ISD).

Barnard has extensively published and presented on issues relating to development and ICT in Africa. His areas of expertise include the role of the international development and funding community in southern Africa, the role of the NGO sector in southern Africa, corporate citizenship and the involvement of the corporate sector in development issues, and the contribution of information and ICT in support of development processes.

Barnard holds BA and BA (Hons) degrees (both cum laude) from the University of Stellenbosch, and has participated in management training at Cranfield University (UK) and City University of New York (USA).

Barnard is a member of the ONE Africa Policy Advisory Board.

Barnard completed the 250km Kalahari Augrabies Extreme Marathon from 17 to 23 October 2010, the 250km Sahara Race from 2 to 8 October 2011, in Egypt, the 220km Namib Desert Challenge from 26 to 30 March 2012, in Namibia, and the 250km Gobi March from 10 to 16 June 2012, in China, as part of the annual SANGONeT “No Pain No Gain” fundraising campaign (www.ngopulse.org/npng).

Organisational profile

SANGONeT is a dynamic civil society organisation with a history closely linked to the social and political changes experienced by South Africa during the past 25 years. SANGONeT is one of very few NGOs in Africa involved in the field of information communication technologies (ICTs). It is a very unique organisation with a proud history and service delivery track record, and continues to receive extensive local and international recognition for its achievements.

SANGONeT’s vision is to be a strategic leadership organisation influencing social transformation through ICTs - it strives to contribute to a just, equitable and prosperous southern African society, where the impact and contribution of sustainable development programmes are supported by appropriate, relevant and affordable ICT solutions.

SANGONeT’s mission is to support the effective use of ICTs in southern African civil society organisations by providing quality services and initiatives - it exists for the purpose of facilitating access, sharing information, building capacity, raising awareness, enhancing reach and impact, and linking people and organisations through the use of ICTs in southern Africa.

SANGONeT celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2012, and all its services and interventions continue to be shaped by the challenge of strengthening the capacity of NGOs in finding long-term and sustainable solutions in response to southern Africa’s development problems.

Strategic interventions

During the past few years, SANGONeT has conceptualised and implemented the following strategic interventions to enhance the use of ICTs among South African NGOs.

NGO Pulse Portal - launched in October 2005, the portal provides a gateway to the South African NGO sector and a media platform for development news, commentary and debate. As the most prominent NGO Web site in South Africa, NGO Pulse further promotes communication and networking in the NGO and broader civil society sector by providing a unique snapshot of the sector’s daily activities and outputs. By the end of March 2012, more than 2.6 million people had visited more than 14 million pages on NGO Pulse. Furthermore, NGO Pulse has more than 10 000 registered users (people with the ability to upload and publish information on the portal), while more than 37 000 people subscribe to the weekly NGO Pulse e-newsletter (www.ngopulse.org).

Prodder NGO and Development Directory - a key component of the NGO Pulse portal is Prodder, the most comprehensive and verifiable source of directory information about NGOs and development stakeholders in South Africa. Prodder also celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2012, and a special directory in print will be released on 24 October 2012 to coincide with World Development Information Day (www.prodder.org.za).

NGO Pulse Premium Advertising Service - this is SANGONeT’s newest offering to the NGO sector and anyone interested in communicating with NGOs in South Africa. It integrates all SANGONeT’s advertising and communication channels into a single suite of services. Users have the option of “buying” space on the NGO Pulse homepage for a specified period of time, linked to SN Announce, and the use of SANGONeT’s social media channels, i.e. Twitter and Facebook.

SANGONeT “ICTs for Civil Society” Conference - this annual event, first held in March 2005, is the premier technology event on the NGO calendar and presents NGOs with an important opportunity to reflect on the challenges and opportunities presented by ICTs in support of their work. The most recent event was held from 1 to 3 November 2011, in Johannesburg, (www.ngopulse.org/ict4rd).

SANGOTeCH - this online technology donation portal, launched in December 2006, aims to assist NGOs by providing software and hardware for very low or discounted fees in conjunction with ICT donor partners, as well as by supporting NGOs to maximise their ICT purchases and infrastructure. Since inception, this initiative has resulted in savings of more than R100 million for the NGO sector in South Africa (www.sangotech.org). SANGONeT is also managing similar initiatives in support of the NGO sectors in Botswana and Kenya.

Mobile Solutions for Small-Scale Farmers - funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this four-year project aims to increase the income and impact of small-scale farmers in Kenya and Zambia through the introduction of various mobile phone applications.

South African NGO Web Awards - first held in 2006, this annual competition is run in conjunction with the SANGONeT Conference and aims to raise awareness among NGOs about the benefits of having a Web presence, stimulate interest in the application of Web solutions and applications, and showcase best practices in Web site creation and maintenance.

SANGONeT “No Pain No Gain” Campaign - this annual campaign aims to raise awareness about the work of NGOs in South Africa, as well as funding in support of SANGONeT’s various activities. Against the background of SANGONeT’s 25th anniversary this year, SANGONeT’s Executive Director, David Barnard, will run 750km across three deserts on three continents in support of the 2012 campaign (www.ngopulse.org/npng).

The ongoing challenges facing SANGONeT include strengthening its role and contribution through the relevance of its products and services, customising its ICT services to the specific needs of the NGO sector; improving its interaction, relationship and response to the needs of current and potential NGO clients; building relationships and partnerships with strategic role players in the NGO, government and private sectors; and providing leadership and guidance to NGOs as far as ICT issues are concerned.

Refer to www.sangonet.org.za for more information about SANGONeT’s activities.

Editorial contacts
Mbali Zulu
Account Executive
Mbali.Zulu@ogilvypr.co.za