entrepreneurial & leadership training in an agricultural context
Main Vision
Identify and develop entrepreneurial thought leaders with strong ethics operating in their own communities.
Secondary Vision
Food security & improved nutrition and breaking the poverty cycle, enabling ethical business thinking.
Mission
Equip & empower vulnerable parents in South Africa to be present in their homes, to meet current challenges of food security and family unity and to have a multi-generational effect through embracing entrepreneurship.
Agri Vision Foundation is a Non-Profit Company with the main vision to develop entrepreneurial thought leaders with strong ethics, operating in their own communities.
The secondary vision is food security and improved nutrition, breaking the cycle of poverty and entitlement, and enabling ethical business thinking. This creates opportunities for fathers to generate an income locally, allowing family units to remain intact.
We invite likeminded organisations and individuals to join us on this journey of regeneration.
where it all started
Our community restoration activities commenced formally in 2015, when we started meeting weekly with people living on the streets and staying in the night shelter in Stellenbosch. As our leadership group grew, we could take on new projects.
We started supporting the Hesketh King Salvation Army programme in 2018 and met regularly with both the juveniles (6-week programme) and adults (3-month programme) recovering from substance addiction. Seeing the brokenness in the lives of the adults and older children, we realised that we had to make an impact on the younger generation. In 2021, we started volunteering at the Youth Centre in Stellenbosch for vulnerable children, where the focus was doing life with the kids. Some of the highlights was teaching the children to cycle, swim and fish.
In 2020, we started reaching out to the early morning commuters as they disembark from trains, busses and taxis and walk to the Stellenbosch town centre. This outreach action is a combination of breakfast handouts, listening to their concerns, and encouraging them. The meetings with the street and shelter people, as well as the visits to the Youth Centre kids, are continuing, but the leadership role has been handed over to new volunteers. In 2023, we sensed that our time of being involved exclusively in the Boland had come to an end and that we should start family- and community-based projects in materially poorer communities in the Eastern, Southern and Western Cape.
The 4 pillars Everything is built on
Collaboration with organisations with a longstanding track record of success in diverse African communities.
Laeveld Agrochem
Funding, expertise, and training support
Farming God's Way
Agricultural training and life skills training resources and support
The World Needs a Father
Life skills and parenting training and support
AgriSeta
Accreditation and training support
watch this
Farming God's Way
The World Needs a Father
regeneration Plan
The three phases of the programme collectively run for 12 months.
To achieve our mission, Agri Vision Foundation collaborates with organisations that have a long track record of success in diverse African communities:
(i) Farming God’s Way helps us with the establishment of food gardens,
(ii) Emerging Leaders provides entrepreneurial & leadership training, and
(iii) Laeveld Agrochem provides seed packs, nutritional food support and a well organised national infrastructure to accommodate larger projects in rural communities.
Together with The Radicle Group, we also provide National Certificate and diploma courses in various agricultural fields via an accredited AgriSeta called Agri Skills Development
Phase 1
Phase 1 of the 1-year training starts with a spring garden demonstration and with equipping families to plant such gardens at home using sustainable, locally sourced farming inputs.
Follow-up visits by trained community-based facilitators provide technical assistance to these families.
Some of the family members are then subsidised to attend a 3-day Vegetable Production course to help them scale their gardens.
Phase 2
Phase 2 starts with a summer garden in the same community and with training the families in ethical entrepreneurship.
This is followed by a series of shorter satellite consultation sessions, to support community members to generate, refine and implement their business ideas.
Phase 3
Phase 3 starts with an autumn/winter garden with the same families, and with training the families in ethical leadership.
Follow-up support is provided, and those interested in further training are assisted to make contact with suitable training institutions.
meet the team
Dr. Michael Southwood
Michael has more than 25 years of experience in commercial agriculture, both as producer and consultant. He focuses on sustainable farming practices. He is involved in social responsibility initiatives involving young children and adults in South African and Lesotho.
Mr Shawn Cupido
Shawn is a specialist in accounting, ethical financial stewardship, financial planning and financial oversight. He is part of the leadership of the Institute of Accounting and Commerce and serves on the boards of NGOs for vulnerable children.
Mr Owen de Vos
Owen is a farm manager who has a background in mechanics. He has been involved in restorative community outreach activities in the Boland since 2018. These include small-group meetings with juveniles and adults undergoing rehabilitation for substance abuse, with the homeless and (together with his family) with vulnerable children at a children’s home.
Mr Justin van Neel
Justin has work experience in several industries, including commercial agriculture and upholstery. He has an interest in seeing families healthy and whole and is involved in establishing community gardens in the Boland and beyond.
Mr Themba Tyibilika
Themba is a full time campus worker, serving students in the East London area. He was involved in running soup kitchens and distributing food parcels to the materially poor during the COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter. He is interested in finding sustainable solutions to local food insecurity.
Pastor Kenny Nonkonyana
Kenny has a long history of serving his communities and several other regions of the Eastern Cape through training, building projects and pastoral support. He longs to see entrepreneurs arise who can care not only for their own families but also for others who need hope and relief.
Pastor Elija Tiso
Elija has a long history of serving his communities and several other regions of the Eastern Cape through training, building projects and pastoral support. He longs to see entrepreneurs arise who can care not only for their own families but also for others who need hope and relief.
Prof. Frennette Southwood
frequently asked questions
There are two main ways of getting involved: by contributing financially and by volunteering your services. For the latter, please send a short email message to info@agrivision.com, specifying the geographic area in which you are situated, your skill set and training, and your availability. We will gladly contact you to discuss the matter further.
Yes, we are in the process of registering for our Section 18A certification and as a public beneficiary organisation.
We do not run projects for communities but we do run projects with communities. Contact us to provide us with information on your community. We need to know that once a project has been initiated, there is a sufficient support in the community to make it sustainable. We will assess with you whether this is the case, and if it is not, we will process with you how to put the necessary support structures in place.
Yes, the materials used are sourced from within the community and are natural and not genetically modified.
The facilitators use English and works with interpreters should the community supply such interpreters.
In line with our vision of breaking the culture of entitlement and dependency, there are no free hand-out’s. Trainees pay a non-market-related fee to cover the cost of the seedlings and training manuals. (The training itself and technical support are however free of charge for the trainees.) During training, we introduce a system by which the community can continue to source seedlings or produce their own.
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