SIFE SA

SIFE South Africas University of KwaZulu-Natal Team shines once again on global platform.

The South Africa SIFE National Champion Team from the University of KwaZulu-Natal who competed in the 2011 SIFE World Cup competition, brought great pride to our countrywhen they made it through the opening rounds that qualified them to the semi-finalis.

A total of 40 delegates from South Africa travelled to the SIFE World Cup competition in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to attend this global event.The SIFE team from the University of KwaZulu-Natal was up against Nigeria, Japan, Poland, and India in the opening rounds of the competition. South Africa and India secured their place in thesemi-final roundswhich placed them amongst the top 16 teams globally. Here they facedthe SIFE teams from Zimbabwe, China and Singapore, where the team from Zimbabwe made it through to the final round.

From a group of national champion university teams representing 37 countries, the University of Regensburg from Germany was named the SIFE World Cup 2011 Champion.Among their award-winning outreach efforts were projects that helped the mentally disabled have jobs through water bottle recycling.The other finalists include: Chinhoyi University of Technology from Zimbabwe as the first runner up, the University of Puerto Rico, Humacaoin the third place and the University of the Valley of Guatemala in fourth place.

But SIFE South Africa did not return to our country empty handed. After being the top performer globally since 2007, SIFE South Africa was dethroned in 2010 when SIFE Puerto Rico was acknowledged as top performing country worldwide. However,SIFE South Africa regained its position this year when the SIFE South Africa national organization was acknowledged during the eventas recipient of the 4.0 Club Award, and also as Regional and Global Top Performer. The Club 4.0 Award recognizes country leaders whose SIFE operations have earned an overall Country Index Score of 4.0 with a minimum of 3.0 in each category andthat have made exceptional strides this past year in terms of its governance, board relations, organizational capacity, program management, financial sustainability and country management. This is the 5^th year that SIFE South Africa has received the 4.0 Club Award.

An pleasantly unexpected achievement was when the Chief Executive Officer of SIFE South Africa, Letitia de Wet, was acknowledged as the inaugural recipient of “The Jack Shewmaker Leadership Award” for outstanding performance and effectiveness with the highest overall country index score ever by any country, and a perfect full score (5.0).

Humbled by this prestigious award, she said that “…the lessons learnt during the year and at the event will most certainly be ploughed back into the programme.We are also confident that the SIFE teams in South Africa will be bold in their actions to bring about the lasting change our nation and continent is in need of in terms of skills development and job creation through empowerment. We are also exceptionally proud of our UKZN team and their achievements and are confident that they will implement the new knowledge they have gained through their SIFE World Cup experience back into their projects”.

Nearly 3,000 students, academic professional and business executives from around the world assembled at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, making this year"s event the biggest SIFE World Cup to date. More than 200 business leaders served as judges and assessed the outreach projects of the participating national champion teams. The teams were evaluated on how successful they were at applying business concepts to improve the quality of life and standard of living for those in need.

SIFE South Africa compete globally in community development and entrepreneurship

SIFE, an organisation that is motivated to change the world through educational outreach, community empowerment and entrepreneurship development, is about to represent South Africa on a global stage, where 37 teams will compete in the World Championship for changing the standard of living and improving the lives of those in need. The SIFE World Cup 2011 event is to be held in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) from 3^rd-5^th October and will bring together a diverse network of approximately 2,500 university students, academic professionals and industry leaders from more than 50 countries to participate in this global competition. The representative countries will compete at this international event and be judged by some of the world’s leading business executives.

The South African team will comprise of eight SIFE presenters from the University of KwaZulu-Natal who walked away as the fourth time National Champion Team in July this year. Also accompanying them will be their Faculty Advisor, Mr Mandla Ndaba, and Ms Joyce Sibeko from the University of Johannesburg, the SIFE SA Faculty Advisor of the Year 2011 and two SIFE Staff members, with Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited as the official traveling sponsor.

Says Letitia de Wet, CEO of SIFE South Africa, “The SIFE World Cup is the ultimate SIFE experience that offers a relevant and meaningful way to engage globally and to demonstrate the great work these students are doing within our communities. It is also an opportunity for companies to have access to highly talented SIFE students and alumni on a global scale through company booths at the Sponsor Fair. Our SIFE students are a leading source of talent and have certainly become sought after.”

The SIFE World Cup brings together top executives from all over the world in support of a shared cause - to help evaluate the effectiveness of the SIFE teams by serving as a SIFE Judge. It also provides networking opportunities to connect with other business leaders in attendance through numerous networking events and activities, including the Top to Top and Top to Future-Top Forums and the SIFE World Cup Executive Reception and Dinner. Other exclusive SIFE World Cup networking events this year, include the inauguration of Doug McMillon, President & CEO of Walmart International as Chairman of the SIFE Worldwide Board of Directors, and a dinner on 5^th October hosted by the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

“We are proud to accompany the SIFE South African team to this world class event and hope they will continue to demonstrate the strong entrepreneurial skills that they have learnt and that South Africa, as a country, intrinsically possess. We are confident that the SIFE UKZN Team will do our country proud as we strive to bring the Cup home,” concludes de Wet.