It’s key for charities to work together. To share lessons learned to reach the ultimate goal of making a lasting impact. That is why this Charity Tuesday the Foundation team and sir Levi, the director of the outreach team from Central Philippine University, have been on a fact-finding mission and met with the housing building charity Gawad Kalinga in Iloilo.
Eric, their representative on site, explained to us how they have worked with their beneficiaries to create a sustainable future. Thank you for the time and all the great advice!
After taking a year off, we are so excited that the Trade-A-Thons are back! A massive thank you to Learn to Trade Australia for hosting such an amazing Trade-A-Thon event in aid of the foundation on  November 25th. We are so happy to have you as one our biggest benefactors and are so grateful to all the people that attended for their support. Your support enables us to rebuild a community in the Philippines hard hit by Typhoon Haiyan. Together we can and will do more!
Trade-A-Thon is a live trading event where the profits from the ticket price and the commission from the brokerage is donated to the Foundation. There are more Trade-A-Thons to come in 2017, with the UK starting off the new year with an event in London on the 25th of January.
Each Christmas, Greg’s companies donate staff time, food and presents for families in the local area who are struggling over Christmas, with the foundation organising and planning the event. This year, we have held basket Brigades in the UK, Australia, and the Philippines.
In the UK, we worked with the Salvation Army Wandsworth, helping 76 families get by this Christmas. As our CEO Greg said,
“It’s a great way to drum up some Christmas cheer to the families. Many of us are lucky enough to have families and friends who buy each other presents and food, so it is good to give to others and help them through, what many find a lonely and difficult time.”
On December 20th, we packed 76 food boxes and gifts for 161 children, which we hand-delivered to the families and the Salvation Army. Basket brigade is an initiative we are so proud to be a part of, and we are extremely grateful to Greg Secker, Learn to Trade UK, SmartCharts, Capital Index and FX Capital for their passion to contribution, which enabled us to help so many families this Christmas. It was a great day and we had a lot of fun organising it.
Basket Brigade is an alternative Christmas party and the one that staff look forward to every year. Here in the UK, London Live came along to our Basket Brigade as we urged more companies to get involved and spoke about the rise of foodbank users the past years. It may sound shocking, but 1 in 5 families use foodbanks at least once in their life here in the UK.ÂÂ
Not only has Greg’s companies done basket brigade in the UK, they have also held them in Australia and the Philippines! In the Philippines, the team bought presents and delivered them to the children of House of Refuge, the Manila-based orphanage the foundation donated a medical clinic to earlier this year!
In Australia, Learn to Trade was spreading the Christmas Spirit on behalf of the Greg Secker Foundation with a visit at Wesley Mission!ÂÂ
We had such a rewarding and fun time, but hope that next year there will be fewer families in need of our assistance.
We have started construction on our Build a House, Build a Home Project! We are building 100 homes for victims of Typhoon Haiyan as well as a multipurpose training centre.
On Wednesday 11th of May, we attended Ubuntu‘s Growing Up Gala. We had such a fun night and are so proud to be supporting such a great organisation. Ubuntu Education Fund provides world-class health and educational support to the orphaned and vulnerable children of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.ÂÂ
Ubuntu’s 9th London gala brought over 350 people to the iconic Roundhouse for an unforgettable night inspired by the stories of “Growing Up†with Ubuntu. The charity celebrated 17 years of transformative community development and launched Vision 2020 – their bold, five-year expansion plan. We enjoyed exquisite dining and music by the Faithettes, and heard inspirational stories from Ubuntu scholar, Zanele Nobhadula, and Board member, Ciko Thomas. Together, we raised more than £650,000 for their worthy cause, and had a good time whilst doing so. Thanks for a lovely night and for all the dedication you have to kids in the township of  Port Elizabeth!ÂÂ
Our successful Inspired Youth workshops, held in cooperation with Pride Factor, took place in Johannesburg and Cape Town in March 2016. The one-day workshops received an overwhelmingly positive response from those who attended, the role models and celebrities who presented motivational insights, as well as the organisations and schools who brought students to the event.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to the organisers of the event on Saturday,†said Gladys Ndlangamandla of Tembisa Secondary School, whose students were brought to the event by the President’s Award Group. “The feedback I’m receiving from the learners is just overwhelming.â€Â
“I have enjoyed myself and the inspiring information I got today I will always keep with me,” said Perfect Zikhali.
More than 800 teenagers and young adults attended the events and left motivated and better prepared to achieve their full potential as they aspire to become the country’s future leaders. Having run similar youth programmes in the United Kingdom, we are excited about bringing our experience and commitment to giving children the best possible start in life to South Africa.
We have held a number of Youth Leadership Summits in the UK, equipping young people with practical life strategies and emotional development tools. The South African workshops are the first to take place globally.
“The exchange rate is such that we have the capacity to make a much bigger difference in South Africa,†says Greg. “The workshop is designed around my experiences in trading and training, where the ability to master oneself has a very strong bearing on performance and success. By learning to manage emotional and reactive decision-making, you’re empowered to unlock the resourcefulness centre in your brain. This is where the magic happens and I want to give young people the same skills, which will make a huge difference as they grow up, finish school and begin careers.â€Â
Along with the motivational talks, the workshops included entertainment acts, gifts and prizes, opportunities to meet and mingle with the speakers and browse exhibits on education, mobile connectivity and youth products. Participants received vouchers to buy the food of their choice from the onsite store as well as programs, pens and a special memento!
Role-models from a broad cross-section of business, sport and entertainment contributed their time and expertise to providing youngsters from every walk of life with a memorable experience. All the participants have given the events rave reviews after hearing insights from, and interacting with, a dozen of the country’s highest profile role models.
Some of the motivational speakers included:
Nick de Wit, SA freestyle Moto-X champion and ranked 5thin the world
Romy Heldsinger, CEO of JAG, a sales lead company
Iris Cupido, CEO of the SABC Foundation
Mike Sharman, Co-Founder of RetroViral, online campaigns for brands
Lunga Tshika, SA Ambassador to One Young World, a global forum for young leaders
Katlego Maboe, the host of Expresso and Strictly Come Dancing
Theodora Lee, the winner of the Best YouTube Channel at the African Blogger Awards in 2015
Jimmy Nevis, the number one pop/R&B musician
In Johannesburg, Sibusiso Leope, also known as DJ Sbu, got proceedings underway with a high-energy talk, followed by digital fundi Romy Heldsinger, the CEO of JAG Method, and motivational speakers Iris Cupido, the CEO of the SABC Foundation, and Sibusiso Molimi. MetroFM’s Talk Show host Rams Mobote then interviewed multiple FMX champion and stuntman Nick de Wit. The afternoon program featured the debut live performance of rising star Alexandra May’s new song before Mike Sharman, founder of the Retroviral Creative Agency, recounted his path to the top of the digital advertising world. The day ended with the thoughts of entrepreneur and the SA ambassador for One Young World, Lunga Tshikila.
“Education moved me from the street corner to a table full of decision makers. Education changes lives,” DJ Sbu told the audience, adding, “It’s not about where you come from, but where you’re goingâ€Â.
We wish to thank all those who participated and worked on organising the workshops for making this such a great event for South Africa’s future leaders!
Interested in hearing more? Check out our social media on Inspired Youth
 
