Launched at the asset manager’s 20th anniversary dinner, the foundation will test its model in a single community before trying to repeat it elsewhere.
JOHANNESBURG: Mazi Asset Management used its 20th anniversary dinner on 1 October to launch the Mazi Foundation, which will build a community hub in one South African locality and, if the model works, repeat it elsewhere.
The foundation was introduced to guests at The Forum in Hyde Park by its board chairperson, Ambassador Barbara Masekela. She described it as the brainchild of Mazi founder Malungelo Zilimbola, who believes that a company that has succeeded commercially “must also plough back into the community that has made it successful”.
The plan is for a “life hub” that serves people “from cradle to grave”: a safe place for children to learn and play, a sense of purpose for young people, a meaningful role for adults, and a place for elders to pass on what they know. The foundation has yet to name the community that will host it. Masekela said the site will be chosen so the project “grows naturally” and reflects the realities of the people living there, rather than those of “a far-fetched community in a dissimilar economic and social position”.
Need
It will be built in three phases. The first starts “where the need is greatest”, with literacy programmes, after-school activities, mentorship from skilled pensioners, community gardens, and drug prevention and counselling services, alongside artists and athletes who will work with young people. The second adds sports and cultural facilities, science and technology labs and wider wellness services. By the third phase, Masekela said, the hub should have grown into an intergenerational facility where health, counselling and recreation sit under one roof.
“Our communities are calling not for charity but for partnerships, not for promises but for action,” Masekela told the room. The foundation intends to recruit local and district government, churches and NGOs, each of which, she said, would bring resources, expertise or “simply the will to make a difference”. She also noted that many of the community centres where young people once met culture and the arts no longer exist.
Cattle and capital
Mazi, which Zilimbola founded in 2006 with a R4 million hedge fund mandate, now manages about R50 billion, he told guests. Those present included Sizwe Nxasana, the former FirstRand chief executive; Fatima Vawda of 27four, one of Mazi’s early supporters; and representatives of the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund and the Public Investment Corporation.
Zilimbola dates the firm’s story earlier than 2006. “I tell people I used to look after my parents’ cattle before I looked after your capital,” he said. The business itself was conceived in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, the dot-com crash and Enron, with one aim: sparing clients a permanent loss of capital. “We wanted our clients to sleep well at night,” he said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t help with noisy neighbours.”
Trust
Keynote speaker Professor Edward Kieswetter, the former SARS commissioner, spoke about trust and honesty in business. Zilimbola had made the same point earlier in the evening: “Our most valuable asset isn’t listed on any balance sheet. It is the unwavering trust of our clients, the integrity of our culture, and the shared commitment of our team.”
Masekela summed up the foundation’s aim in four words: “Impact owned by communities.”
