American College students detail their experiences with Inkululeko on development of business skills program funded by the U.S. Consulate in Cape Town

Hello! My name is Jenny Zheng, a business major at the University at Buffalo. Today, I would like to share how my experience working with Inkululeko thus far has been.

Back in October 2021, a fellow UB student told me about Inkululeko, as he was a tutor for the program, and I too wanted to contribute. The best part is that you don't have to be based in South Africa; as long as you have a connection to the Internet, then you can volunteer for Inkululeko!

The most intriguing part was the fact that we could make an impact on the educational lives of South African students thousands of miles away, which is a topic I will return to in a bit. There's all kinds of volunteering opportunities here--from grant-writing to tutoring. From the very beginning, Jason, the CEO of Inkululeko, has worked closely with me to ensure all of my questions were answered. It also makes you feel like you're being heard.

The project I worked on (along with several other groupmates) involved making a curriculum that would teach students in South Africa about entrepreneurship as well as "green principles" that will lead to a sustainable environment and livable planet. This experience taught me a lot of things, such as selecting high-quality educational resources for the learners or planning lessons to be as engaging as possible. Along with my groupmates, we were able to make a rough draft for the lessons that actual students will one day be exposed to.

Even though I won't have the opportunity to fly over to South Africa to see the lessons taking place, it was very interesting to be involved in creating something that will actually be used in the classroom one day. I can't wait to see what the students think about it!

In the following section, my groupmate Gwynneth, who worked on the curriculum with me, will share her insights about the experience:

Designing the Green Economy business course was one of my favorite projects I have done thus far as an intern with Inkululeko. While the project was work and research extensive, I enjoyed working with Gabe and Jenny, as splitting up the project made it much easier to manage. I think the most rewarding part of the project is the fact that the course is being actively used in classrooms today; I’m looking forward to meeting with colleagues in South Africa to hear feedback about the course and would be interested in doing another project like this one in the future.