Momentum Metropolitan employees use their skills to solve NPO business challenges

From left to right: Tshego Bokaba (Momentum Metropolitan CSI Manager), Lesego Godana (Momentum Metropolitan), Bongi Dlamini (Momentum Metropolitan), Zandile Vilakazi-Mwenda (Find your Life), Fred Mwenda (Find your Life), Tshepo Semunza (Momentum Metropolitan),Thato Makola (Forgood), Clayton Lazarus (Momentum Metropolitan), Patronella Sono (Momentum Metropolitan Staff Volunteer Programme Specialist)

On Thursday 12 May, Momentum Metropolitan hosted an intense troubleshooting session that saw its diverse team of multi-talented employees tackle business challenges presented by four non-profit organisations (NPOs), engaging the skills of their in-house specialists to solve the problems put forward.

‘The Cube NPO Business Challenge’, a full-day workshop hosted in Sandton, saw four organisational challenges presented to the Momentum Metropolitan team by IkamvaYouth, Life Choices, Uviwe Child & Youth Services and Find your Life enrichment programme. Forgood, an online platform that connects volunteers with those in need, assisted in finding and selecting the NPOs alongside the Momentum Metropolitan team.

Explains Patronella Sono, Momentum Metropolitan’s Staff Volunteer Programme (SVP) Specialist, “In designating this workshop, our intention was not solely to solve the particular challenge highlighted in the session.

“We aimed to take our NPO partners along with us on a journey so that they would be privy to new thought and problem-solving processes. We worked with them to co-create solutions – not only were their immediate problems addressed; the intention was also to equip them with new skills and toolsets that would assist them in navigating future obstacles.”

After a two-hour ideation session, Momentum Metropolitan’s employees, who had been grouped into four teams, had a few minutes per team to pitch their ideas to each NPO in a fast-paced exercise reminiscent of Dragon’s Den. Each NPO had the opportunity to ask questions, interrogating the ideas presented to gauge their potential suitability.

After the Q&A session, the four NPOs announced what they believed to be the most innovative, practical and feasible ideas, and these ideas were then presented to a panel of judges to determine the overall winner.

This year’s winning team consisted of Momentum Metropolitan employees Clayton Lazarus, Tshepo Semunza, Lesego Godana, and Bongi Dlamini as well as Thato Makola from forgood, who were awarded R75 000 towards the roll-out of their proposed solution to First your Life’s organisational challenge. IkamvaYouth, Life Choices, Uviwe Child & Youth Services were awarded R25 000 each to help fund the solutions from the runner-up teams.

Concludes Sono, “The purpose of Momentum Metropolitan’s Staff Volunteer Programme is to engage our greatest resource – our employees – to make a significant impact in South Africa’s communities. The NPO Challenge was a fantastic opportunity to utilise the skillsets at our disposal to collaboratively help those organisations working to do good, to solve a pressing business problem.

“Following the pandemic and the other multiple hurdles we’ve faced over the past few decades, our country is in dire need. However, there are also a lot of people who care, and who want to make a difference. To build back – and stronger – we need to do it together.”