For years, we have spoken about the Township Economy as one of South Africa’s greatest untapped growth engines. But growth without capability, digital infrastructure and globally relevant skills leaves millions of young people and small businesses on the outside of the digital economy they already participate in every day.
That is why I’m immensely proud of my team for securing our Cisco Networking Academy affiliation, further entrenching Finlite’s position as a fintech and digital skills academy built for the realities of underserved communities.
This is bigger than certificates.
It is about creating real economic pathways for young people who have talent but limited access. It is about helping informal traders, spaza shops, stokvels and township based SMEs participate meaningfully in the digital economy through skills, digital tools, mentorship and implementation support.
Over the past few years, we have been quietly building the infrastructure for this vision.
An offline first e learning ecosystem. A multilingual, context aware AI agent through Lwazi AI. Community based implementation models through our Digital Titans. Partnerships across government, corporates and civil society. Practical financial literacy and digital capability programmes rooted in real township realities.
Now the mission becomes bigger.
Can we reach one million young people? Can we empower 100,000 informal traders, stokvels and township SMEs? Can we build economic pathways beyond traditional employment into digital work, entrepreneurship and global opportunities?
I believe these are goals worth boldly pursuing.
The Township Economy does not lack ambition. It has lacked access, infrastructure and scalable support systems.
We are building for that future.
Author: Andile Fulane, CEO – Finlite: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andile-f-314a2929?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_android
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