Our team is comprised of smart and dedicated people who believe in our long-term vision, that it is indeed possible for all South African kids to learn to read for meaning and calculate with confidence by age 10 by 2030. These are the people we trust to lead our programs, develop our materials, and advocate for their widespread uptake by government.
CEO
Phumi is a well-rounded and mature strategic leader who is passionate about children and early grade literacy and numeracy. She brings extensive and strategic leadership experience in human resources management, government and public affairs, stakeholder engagement; communications, programme implementation and grant/fundraising from both the corporate and education NPO/NGO sectors. She has spent most of her career in the corporate environment, working for companies in the food manufacturing, telecoms, and oil & gas sectors industries. She transitioned to NPO sector in 2019, following her passion for children’s education and development.
Phumi has a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree and Post-grad Diploma in Human Resources Management from the University of KwaZulu Natal. She has completed leadership development programmes from Wits Business School and the Graduate School of Business’ Centre for Coaching. She has also served as a non-executive director on company boards after completing a Certified Director programme at the Institute of Directors of South Africa.
Head: Research & Development
My research interests focus on effective foundational literacy and numeracy education as well as labour market programs. I am driven by interventions that are informed by research and have the potential to have a real impact on socio-economic conditions of people.
Head: Content & Training
Permie Isaac is currently the Head of Content at Funda Wande. Initially employed as a coach in the Eastern Cape intervention, Permie was quickly promoted to Maths Specialist, to Head of Maths Implementation, and finally to Head of Content. Her rapid career progression highlights the fundamental role she plays in Funda Wande and the clear advantages her deep knowledge of all content areas as well as teacher practice has for the organisation.
Before joining Funda Wande Permie worked as a lecturer at Rhodes University teaching PGCE and BEd students. She lectured two courses, IsiXhosa Methods and Education Environment. She also later lectured the Foundation Phase Literacy Teaching Short Course. Permie started her career as a successful Foundation Phase teacher in a struggling environment and holds a PGCE in Foundation Phase from Rhodes University.
In addition to her rich career and educational history, for the past 9 years Permie has emersed herself in many aspects of education, from working with experts in literacy and numeracy, curriculum planners, subject advisors, school management teams, teachers, parents and learners. Together this vast network of experience gives Permie essential insights into the educational system at various levels, providing her with critical knowledge into how key stakeholders work together to either ameliorate or exacerbate existing social inequalities.
Permie strongly believes that teachers are the most essential ingredient in shifting learner outcomes. Her key interest is in strategies to improve and sustain teacher practice within classrooms.
Talent Manager
Ms. Sarah (Mamikie) Melane is a well-seasoned and highly experienced professional and leader in Human Capital Management, with generalist expertise acquired both in the Private and Public Sectors respectively, spanning over 25 years including HR & Business Strategist Consulting.
She’s recently been appointed as a Talent Manager for Funda Wande, one of the entities of the Allan and Gill Gray Philanthropies South Africa. Her role focuses on HR strategy development, leadership development, organizational development, talent acquisition and on-boarding, change management, performance management and coaching.
During her tenure in the Public Service, she served in different capacities as Director: Integrated Human Resources Management, Director: Human Resources Management; Acting Chief Director: Human Resources Management & Development and Chief Director: Fisheries Operations Support in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Department of the Premier: Western Cape Government respectively. This is where she provided extensive strategic leadership in HR Policy development and leading projects in transformation and disability strategy development, integrated HR & Knowledge Management, Information Systems; Virtual Knowledge Hubs, Learning Forums, Strategic Planning, Legal Services; Intergovernmental & International Relations; Stakeholder Management and Communication Services strategies as well as coordinating the implementation and monitoring of organizational-wide Enterprise Risk Management Strategy and Fraud Prevention Strategy among others.
She has also worked for the University of Fort Hare, the University of the Western Cape as well as Old Mutual respectively in the beginning of her career as an academic and a Human Resources consultant.
Head: Finance & Operations
Holly joined Funda Wande as head of finance. She comes from a background in audit, consulting and retail and has extensive experience in financial management, project management and team leadership.
She's passionate about creating learning environments and developing potential.
Head of Programmes
Zolani Metu is a Mandela Rhodes scholar and M&G Top 200 alumnus with a Masters in Social Work from the University of Cape Town. He also holds a BSW Majoring in Social Work & Psychology from UCT.
His work experience spans across Educational programme management, Corporate Social Investment Management (Private Banking), Entrepreneurial development and private mental healthcare.
Having worked in three countries including the USA, Burundi and South Africa, Zolani has experience in designing programmes, building corporate partnerships, Quantitative research and Teaching at university level.
“To scale programmes that have a tangible impact on foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes, we have to leverage private partnerships while advocating for government adoption and usage…”- Z. Metu.
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