NO LONGER DREAMING, LIVING THE DREAM - A Social Innovator Driving Social Change!

Back in 2004, I was just an individual determined to make a difference in my surrounding community of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and confident that I was doing the right thing. I didn’t have much experience in running projects, I didn’t have a business plan for Youth of Choice, and what seemed most important to me at the time, was to contribute towards social change. I didn’t have much money other than my savings from government. The initial funds to start the organization came from my own pocket and I had a dream of establishing my own organization some day.

After I left my professional carrier in government in 2004, I was living from hand-to-mouth, and had this vision of starting a non-profit organization to serve the developmental needs of young people. In 2005 I started doing some research on non-profit organizations and I remember at some point thinking that this might not work, even though I knew there was a need for a new progressive youth movement of choice for social change. In 2008, Youth of Choice was founded and registered as a non-profit organization. Luckily, the Msunduzi Municipality had enough faith in Youth of Choice and funded our first Aids awareness programme, same grant has extended to other two projects.

Youth of Choice has since gained a beat of momentum and now the biggest challenge is to get institutional funding to effectively run the organization. Without the confidence and support of the board members and volunteers, Youth of Choice would not be where it is today.

Now, I need to make a leap from an idealistic visionary individual to run a sustainable organization operating from an office with staff and programmes to deliver. I need your support to roll out Youth of Choice programmes, broaden the scope of their impact, and use the shared learning’s to assist more young people in the region.

I'm a transformational leader and a social innovator who speaks passionately about social change, leadership and success. I'm trained in property law and had a very successful career in government for ten years heading several transformation and change management structures. I'm currently the volunteer in chief of the organization responsible for the day to day management.

I'm looking forward to hear from you and your great ideas to assist Youth of Choice to drive social change. Sent me an email at, jabulani@youthofchoice.org or follow me on Twitter, http://twitter.com/YOUTHOFCHOICE or like our Facebook fan page, http://www.facebook.com/youthofchoice
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