Adapt IT Education partners with Sam Nzima Foundation to use golf as a critical business tool

Adapt IT Education, a division of Adapt IT Holdings, announced today a partnership with the Sam Nzima Foundation (SNF), a non-profit that aims to immortalise Dr Sam Nzima and his legacy as a local and international symbol for dialogue, unity, peace and reconciliation to host annual golf days and fundraising initiatives.

When the Adapt IT Education team attended the inaugural golf day and fundraising event in Mpumalanga last year, they pledged to work with the SNF on all future regional events and to expand the annual engagement across the regions where Adapt IT Education has a presence.

"We see this partnership and the activities that come with it as a strategic vehicle for us as a business," says Luxolo Rubushe, Managing Director of Adapt IT Education. "Strong relationships are an important part of the business process. Time spent on the golf course with customers or colleagues is an ideal setting for developing new contacts and business relationships."

Dr Sam Nzima, a well-known photographer, was responsible for capturing the famous Hector Pieterson photograph on 16 June 1976, during the Soweto uprising. The image was widely praised and became a symbol of the anti-apartheid movement.

"We are delighted to have found a global partner like Adapt IT Education to assist us in furthering the aim and mandate of the Sam Nzima Foundation and his legacy," says Thulani Nzima, chairman of the SNF. "A shared love of the game provides golfers with a common bond that easily introduces them and starts the conversation. Countless business relationships, friendships, collaborations and referrals have begun during those few hours spent playing golf. I can attest that some of the most effective and successful business transactions have occurred on the golf course.”

As an avid golfer, Thulani Nzima and the foundation have inspired many members of the community and young people to learn the game and the art of golf – an ideal that is central to Adapt IT Education's social outreach strategy. To date, the funds raised by the SNF have been used to fund the construction plans for the youth excellence centre, which will provide extracurricular learning and champion cultural practice through the arts, photography, journalism, literacy, performance and storytelling. The centre will have specific areas for early childhood development programmes and activities.

Adapt IT Education will bring "our expertise in digital teaching and learning to investigate content development and digital learning initiatives for the development and capacity of the youth excellence centre; use our marketing resources to advance fundraising efforts to fund the building of the legacy centre; and further expand this important event to other parts of the country where we have a presence and where we can make an impact", Rubushe explains.

Golf's central role in commerce, as well as its use as an effective business tool, is expanding and spreading. "Meeting and networking with clients to build valuable customer relationships and gaining access to new customers and decision-makers will see us increasing sales and our reach," adds Rubushe.

According to Nzima: "Leaders in all areas of business are discovering the unique value of using golf to not only bring groups together, but also fundraise in a positive and productive environment that produces unimaginable results.”

Some of the proceeds from the event will go toward the construction of a perimeter wall at the foundation's f3.5 hectare piece of land in Lilydale, Mpumalanga, which will house the much-anticipated legacy centre.