Category: Belle and Co.

1/3: Social Entrepreneurship for Grade 12s in South Africa

On Saturday, 15th March, Belle and co., working alongside the Bertha Centre team and the Student Development Unit at the University of Cape Town, designed and delivered part 1 or 3 workshops focused on social entrepreneurship for 100 matriculants from various schools across South Africa.The second and third workshop will take place in July and August 2025 (blogs to follow).

The learners, who are part of an extra curriculum Saturday mathematics and science programme at the UCT, requested additional professional and personal development training focused on entrepreneurial skills for their future careers. SDU approached the Bertha Centre for this inaugural training, who in turn entrusted Belle and Co. to design and deliver it.

The design thinking approach

Belle and co. used the design thinking framework to structure the three part series. The workshops are designed to guide the learners from problem identification to solution generation, encouraging creative thinking through an entrepreneurial mindset.

The Workshop 1 session included case studies of successful local social enterprises, practical group work on specific design challenges, as well as student presentations. This hands on approach helped learners identify social problems and build confidence in articulating their ideas to the class.

Workshop 1 learning objectives

The first workshop, titled Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship, focused on four core learning objectives:

  • Learning objective 1: Introducing the concept of social entrepreneurship.
  • Learning objective 2: Understanding the difference between traditional business models and social enterprises.
  • Learning objective 3: Encouraging creative thinking to solve social issues through business mechanisms.
  • Learning objective 4: Developing skills to identify local social problems and opportunities.

Feedback and next steps

At the conclusion of the first session, each student wrote a feedback letter and placed it in a dedicated post box. The facilitation team will use these reflections to assess the session and make adjustments for the upcoming workshops in the series.

Explore the images to see more:

Co-creating the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation entrepreneurship curriculum

From May – October 2024, Belle and Co. worked with the dedicated team at Allan Gray Orbis Foundation to co-create their high school scholarship and university fellowship curriculum. Belle and Co’s director, Ms Rodrigues served as curriculum advisor and leadership expert working with design thinking experts and learning designers to ensure alignment with Allan Gray’s 14 behavioural entrepreneurial competencies.

The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation invests in the education and development of individuals with entrepreneurial potential within Southern Africa. We believe that it takes one responsible, high-impact entrepreneur to change the reality of a city, or even a country, by creating long-term, meaningful job opportunities.

Above images:

Image 1: University Fellowship Advertisement

Image 2 & 3: High School Scholarship Advertisement

Art spoke truth, SIKKA (Sudan) captured their legacy

August 2024

Earlier this year, the SIKKA Team approached Belle and Co. to support the team’s creative and sustainability endeavours.

The needs:

  • The focus on creativity was important, as all of the team are dispersed and displaced after the war, making it hard to find the creative motivation needed for a project of this nature.
  • In addition, the seed funding which was initially invested by Goethe Institut is coming to an end, and the project needs to develop its own funding streams.

The programme solution:

Over the August and September months, Belle and Co designed and delivered an intensive 8 week blended online course covering various topics related to creativity and business development. We used Zoom for our synchronous sessions, and Google Classrooms for our virtual learning environment, where all resources and recordings could be accessed asynchronously.

The initial 3 sessions focused on creativity including understanding the SIKKA Story, underlying motivations of the members of the team, building new ideas into the platform as well as future-casting the SIKKA business in 10 years time. A number of creative tag lines were invented to capture the essence of the SIKKA story, including:

Art spoke truth, SIKKA captured their legacy

SIkka, a portal to the hearts of its Sudanese people

Sikka is the “living archive” of a revolutionary people

The potential move from a project to an organisational structure then warranted a business plan or actionable roadmap. The five (5) last sessions worked methodically through each section of a business plan from an executive summary to the financial plan:

After learning about the contents of a business plan, the SIKKA team then had to build each section in turn and present their plans in the subsequent sessions until they had built a final business plan with financial forecasting.

As a way to prepare the team for external audiences, Belle and Co. invited key industry stakeholders (Professional Rwandese Performer, a Sudanese Musician, a Congolese University Professor on Cultural Management) to an online pitch session, in order to give the team a real world feel for presenting the SIKKA platform and its story. The audience was able to feedback in real time, so the team could go back and refine their pitch for future funders.

Belle and Co and the SIKKA team continue engaging online, and regularly update each other on the WhatsApp Group to inspire and motivate each other further.

Anti-corruption whistleblower training

ANTI-CORRUPTION TRAINING | We have been working under contract with Limina Education together with Whistleblower House, SIU and GIZ to develop an anti-corruption and Whistleblowing training and companion guide for Investigators.

Belisa Rodrigues formed part of the learning design team, together with Whistleblower experts, to shape a workshop curriculum, handbook and design the companion facilitator guide including case studies, downloadable worksheets and templates for future trainers.

One (1) day workshops were conducted in both Cape Town and Johannesburg with whistleblower investigators and other ecosystem stakeholders to strengthen their response to this sensitive area of work.

This important work will shape how Investigators mediate their work when dealing with vulnerable witnesses such as whistleblowers, how to (and where) to go to for support, and how to navigate the unique cultural circumstances and climate in an SA environment.

#anticorruption#whistleblower#training

Participedia School on Transnational Democratic Innovations

June 2024

The Participedia School on Transnational Democratic Innovations was hosted simultaneously at the University of the Western Cape [South Africa] and Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador [Canada] over 5 days from 10-15 June 2024

The School saw over 85 practitioners and students from 29 countries, supported by 18 facilitators, across two campus (South Africa and Canada), working on transnational democratic challenges to merge policy and practice. (And most of all cross pollination of experience and learning!)

Belisa Rodrigues, under contract with Innovation for Policy Foundation, helped facilitate a workshop session for delegates on participatory policy design methodologies.

Mentoring cultural entrepreneurs: Utamaduni Hub, Egypt

April -May 2024

During the months of April and May 2024, Belisa Rodrigues was asked to serve as mentor for the English-speaking cohort of cultural entrepreneurs undergoing the Utamaduni Heritage Hub programme. As can be seen in the video above, the Utamaduni Hub is a joint initiative of ICCROM and Senghor University, and located in Alexandria, Egypt.

Utamaduni Heritage Hub thanked its partners, mentors and guest speakers for enriching the learning experience of all participants.

As part of the mentorship journey, participants had to meet with their mentor twice a week, to enhance their understanding of the topics covered that week, as well as develop their final business model and pitch. Angelina Gamal, mentored by Belisa Rodrigues, won 2nd place at the pitch competition which saw her unique business “Taste Egypt” win a laptop as well as additional support to develop her idea further.

Belle and co would like to congratulate all participants for giving their best and sharing in their learning journey with others.

Our public art journey in Madeira

February 2024

Background to the project

Belisa Rodrigues, a South African-born artist with Madeiran heritage, was invited to participate in the project Art of the Open Doors in 2012. She created a door that represented “African connections to Madeira” and encouraged the public to participate by writing their name on the door. Over a period of 11 years, 100s of people participated. The door was unfortunately painted over sometime in 2023. 

2012 – 2023. #10 Rua Santa. Title:  “Roots/Raizes: Escreve o Seu Nome Aqui se Tiveres origens em Africa e na Madeira” by Belisa Caboz Rodrigues

Rodrigues, has now been granted a new door and a new opportunity to share her work with the public. Door #9 at Rua Santa Maria (opposite the old door), in agreement with the owner, a new painting has been launched! 

In January, 2024, 12 years later, the theme of the door #9 displays the iconic figure of Blessed Virgin Mary standing on a serpent upon the world. A fitting symbol, as this door is situated in the road of the same name – Rua Santa Maria. Above the image it states in writing: “Holy Mary, Pray for Us”

2024, #9 Rua Santa. Title:  Maria “Santa Maria: Rogai por Nos” by Belisa Caboz Rodrigues

The artist explains that this iconic door captures the sentiment of our times, where the world is experiencing tremendous pain and conflict. And that we need to look toward peace and justice to prevail over evil – and to pray for one another while seeking answers to world peace.  

Rodrigues stated that the project’s success could not have been achieved without the help of those around her. She states: 

Thank you must go to the owner of door #9 for her faith and permission to paint her door, to Jose Zyberchema, the original visionary behind the door art project. Thanks also goes to Artium for keeping the art materials safe in their shop, as well as thanks to Ja Fui Jacquet for their donation of wine and canapes for the mini exhibition opening of the door to celebrate its completion at Porta #9 Rua Santa Maria. Lastly, a huge thank you to my mother and family for their unwavering support throughout.”

The door #9 was officially “open” to the public on Friday, 26th January at 6pm and an open invitation was included in the local newspaper “Diario Noticias” [ See below in Portuguese]:

About the artist:

Belisa Rodrigues is a South African with Madeiran heritage. She holds an MBA and a Fine Arts Degree from the University of Cape Town. She currently runs her own business called Belle and Company Pty Ltd (https://belleandco.co.za), that aims to support and train artists across Africa on business skills, deepening their impact and their leadership development.

To learn more about the ‘Project of the Open Doors’, please visit the website: https://www.arteportasabertas.com

Digital Standards Workshop – 25th October 2023

📣 British Council & Department of Basic Education’s Digital Standards Development Consultative Workshop on the 25th October, held at the Birchwood Hotel & OR Tambo Conference Centre. Project Lead is Belle and Co. (Belisa Rodrigues), supported by Research Lead from Limina Education Services (Dr Isabel Tarling). And supported by Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.

💡 What is the Digital Standards Project?

The Digital Standards (or Guidelines) Project is a collaborative co-creative process that draws together diverse stakeholders from the education sector to develop digital standards for learning and teaching in South Africa’s schools and beyond.

📌 Milestone 1 (March/April): Input Document

The 8 month journey has taken us from developing a baseline research called the “Input document” which undertook an integrative literature review approach of all standards and policies related to digital teaching and learning. The Digital Capital Map (which consists of Digital Competencies, Digital Agency and Digital Citizenship).

📌 Milestone 2 (7&8 June): Consultative Roundtable 1

The first broad consultative conference on developing digital standards for digital teaching and learning in South Africa. Around 80 education stakeholders attended from a broad spectrum including academia, private sector, government and civil society including schools.

📌 Milestone 3: Online Working Groups

From June until September, the 6 standards working groups included: (1) Learner, (2) Educator, (3) Education Leaders, (4) Parents & Communities, (5) Service Providers & (6) Institutions and Infrastrucuture Standards. 24 meetings in total were conducted.

📝 Once standards were drafted, these were analysed and converted into google forms for voting by the public. The draft standards are still available for public input. Visit the project website to weigh in: https://sites.google.com/limina.co.za/dsdproject/

📌 Milestone 4 (25th October): Consultative Roundtable 2

Most recently, the working groups and others interested in finalising the draft standards were invited to an all-day workshop to walk, step-by-step, through each draft standard and to vote on them.

💡 Why digital standards?

The White Paper on e-Education (2004) provided South African education with a vision and long-term goals to implement digital learning in all education spaces. We need digital standards for different role players and for institutions to operationalise the White Paper in a practical and contextually relevant way.

💡 What are standards?

Standards are different to policies. Policies provide long-term goals, visions and guidance to entire corporations or countries. Standards operationalise policies in short-term or medium-term goals that target specific role players or institutional functions and processes.

📩 Please email me: Belisa Rodrigues (rodrigues.belisa@gmail.com) or send a message to ssa.events@britishcouncil.org.za (Subject header: Digital Standards Project)

DSD-A4-booklet-25-October-finalDownload

SIKKA – Fundraising Workshop

Sikka is a platform whose entire purpose is to document, with an essence of archiving, memorable, iconic moments and events that have truly shaped the feel of the Sudanese revolution.

Currently funded by the Goethe Institute, it is currently the only archiving platform that tells a positive story of the revolution through arts and culture interventions. It started its archiving activities toward the end of the revolution, and continues the ongoing story of beauty through the war time struggles of the Sudanese community and its diasporas.

On the 13, 14, 15 October, Belle and Co. had the privilege of working with the Sikka team to identify ways in which the project could become more sustainable in the future. Utilising the Arterial Network Arts Fundraising toolkit, the workshop covered topics such as understanding where Sikka fits in the Arts Continuum, Analysing the Arts Fundraising environment, Run through the basics of Proposal Writing as well as develop some key Fundraising Strategies for 2024 and beyond.

The workshop concluded with homework for the entire team to source fundraising opportunities within their own network and to work together to co-create future streams of income.

Financial Literacy Hackathon winning teams

12, 13, 19, 20 July 2023

Over the last 5 years, Belle and Co. has been delivering unique and customised innovation workshops for Lifechoice’s Coding Academy students. Twice a year, these important sessions open up the creative potential of young learners who can practically apply their coding skills to solve a problem in their community.

Financial Literacy levels in South Africa

This year, the workshops focused on an important problem prevalent in South Africa today – lack of financial literacy skills (see also our previous hackathon here). According to a 2021 survey conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the level of financial literacy in South Africa is quite low, with only 42% of the adult population being financially literate. Financial literacy is the ability to understand and know how to manage personal finances effectively.

The Hackathon

Taking place over a 2-week period, each student group had to come up with tech-based solutions to topics such as budgeting, savings, investing, credit score and more. Supported by Belle and Co facilitator, Zikhona Madubela, each group was encouraged to use design thinking skills to delve into the problem and come up with “never seen before” solutions. To support them further, the participants were also taken on a journey to explore the fascinating intersection of “Money and Psychology” with an enlightening talk by the guest speaker and financial guru, Olivia Teek.

Image: Zikhona and Olivia.

The participants were not only inspired but also motivated to take control of their financial journeys. A highlight of the hackathon was witnessing the brilliant tech-based solutions that the dynamic participants developed during the intense brainstorming and coding sessions. A total of 10 innovative Financial Literacy “tech-based solutions” were produced, each addressing different aspects of financial education and empowerment.

🏆 The Winning Solutions 🏆

🥇 Group 1: Dollar Sense 📊

The talented minds behind Dollar Sense designed an ingenious budgeting tool that empowers individuals to manage their finances effectively. This solution provides a user-friendly interface and insightful features, ensuring that users can make smart financial decisions and achieve their financial goals with confidence. 🥇

Group 2: Invest Inn 💼

Invest Inn wowed the judges with their investment educational website, providing a comprehensive platform for novices to seasoned investors to enhance their knowledge about the world of investing. With easy-to-understand resources, interactive modules, and expert insights, Invest Inn promises to be a game-changer in nurturing a generation of savvy investors.

Our heartfelt congratulations go out to the winning teams, Dollar Sense and Invest Inn, for their exceptional efforts and well-deserved victories. However, every participant contributed significantly to the success of this hackathon by showcasing their passion for financial literacy and their determination to create meaningful solutions.

A special shoutout to Olivia Teek for sharing her invaluable wisdom on the psychology behind money management, which undoubtedly inspired all the participants to think differently about their financial choices.

Lastly, we extend our gratitude to Life Choices Coding Academy for providing the perfect platform to nurture young talents and foster a culture of innovation and learning. 🙏 We are truly proud of everyone who participated and supported this remarkable event. Together, we are shaping a financially literate future, one brilliant idea at a time. Let’s continue to champion financial literacy and empower individuals to secure their financial well-being.

FinancialLiteracy #EmpoweringYouth #HackathonSuccess #FinancialEducation #MoneyMatters #Investing #Savings #Budgeting #CreditScore #DebtFreeFuture