Luvuyo Mandela
Luvuyo Mandela is a Social Entrepreneur working on developing an education fund and consulting product to service the development needs of South Africa. Luvuyo is putting his learnings from the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) industry and applying them developing responsible, manageable and sustainable interventions to enhance corporate social responsibility solutions.
He was a Verification Analyst at the National Empowerment Rating Agency (NERA) - a leading B-BBEE verification agency in South Africa. Verification Agencies are privately owned transformation audit firms mandated by the Department of Trade and Industry to track transformation of business in South Africa. NERA is one of many custodians of transformation as agencies provide an objective measure of the contributions and compliance of business in South Africa. Luvuyo had taken a short break from the B-BBEE world to tryout the world of entrepreneur development. Before returning to NERA, Luvuyo had worked as a Search and Selection Associate at Endeavor South Africa. He was responsible for searching South Africa for “High Impact Entrepreneurs.”
The High Impact Entrepreneur search and selection process takes the potential candidates through a series of rigourous one-on-one mentorship sessions with the Endeavor VentureCorps volunteers. VentureCorps are leading executives, business people, Endeavor Entrepreneurs (those who have been selected in the past) who volunteer their time to screen would be candidates. Luvuyo was attracted by the organisation’s impressive international track-record of discovering and developing “High Impact Entrepreneurs.” Prior to his work as a Search and Selection Associate at Endeavor South Africa, Luvuyo was responsible for NERA’s Business Development as the company Account, Sales and Marketing Manager.
His initial move to the B-BBEE industry was a natural step after Luvuyo's studies in upstate New York. Luvuyo completed his Bachelor of Arts Philosophy Diploma at Hamilton College where he wrote his final thesis on the need for actual and sincere transformation in South Africa. His thesis argues that while South Africa can celebrate the political freedom we now enjoy in our young democracy, there is more work to be done to address the plight of many South Africans in "the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination."
Luvuyo is an Ambassador of Cheesekids for Humanity, a community service facilitation organisation that creates outlets for people to give back to their neighboring communities. Prior to working as an Ambassador, Luvuyo was part of a small group of people who helped establish the activities and logistics of getting people excited about giving back to the less fortunate. Cheesekids in one of many ways that Luvuyo uses to put his BA in Transformation Ethics to good use. He believes in using unconventional avenues that will end in different people enjoying and sharing common experiences, making the necessary change for the good inevitable.
