Bulungula Incubator
Creating a vibrant, thriving rural community in one of South Africa’s poorest areas.
The Bulungula Incubator (Bulungula) is located in Mbhashe municipality, one of the poorest and most under-resourced parts of South Africa. When the Bulungula founders first visited the village, there was no road, access to healthcare, functioning schools, electricity, any kind of sanitation, or access to safe drinking water. Over time, Bulungula partnered with the community and other stakeholders and has steadily built interventions to span the spectrum of Pre-conception to Career, with four focus areas:
Education |
Health & nutrition |
Sustainable livelihoods |
Vibrant villages |
Bulungula College’s second high school matriculating class beat expectations and achieved a 100% pass rate. And the top student is our newly onboarded Ninety One Changeblazer, Lungile Siphofana, who achieved 6 distinctions (for UK colleagues, that equates to A or A*).
Bulungula College was established in 2019 under the Bulungula Incubator’s Education pillar. Prior to that, the community did not have a high school and if learners wanted to study further than grade 9, they had to move to another village or travel long distances. In 2021, Bulungula College graduated its first class, contributing the most matrics in a single year in the history of the community. In 2022, they had 36 matriculants sit for the final exam and made history yet again.
Ninety One and Bulungula Incubator
Ninety One has been working with Bulungula Incubator since 2020. Our support has contributed to the healthcare initiatives as the country was coming out of COVID-19. Further to that, their top student from their 2022 matric class has been accepted into our Changeblazers programme. Given their success within the education pillar, Ninety One will contribute to the development of a toolkit to enable replication of their education model in other rural communities.
