Sustainability

Maths Centre Incorporating Sciences, popularly known as the Maths Centre, is a Non-Profit Organisation of excellence in mathematics, science, technology and entrepreneurship education; spread across all provinces.

The primary objective is to equip teachers, learners and parents with learning materials and programmes in order to develop a higher competency and performance in these learning areas for Grades R – 12 in South Africa. EOH supports the rolling out of these programmes to 10 high schools including two special needs schools in the East Rand, Johannesburg area.

The Solidarity Fund was established on 23 March 2020 to respond to the COVID-19 crisis in South Africa. EOH was among a group of volunteers responsible for building the cloud-hosted website providing information to citizens and organisations regarding the pandemic and response initiatives.

The initial site was built in just over 24 hours ahead of the first lockdown announcement and has since facilitated over R3.4 billion in donations. Our team supports not only the website, including ongoing development for new campaigns, but also provides systems administration support to ensure the ongoing operation of the fund and its volunteers. The development and support are provided on a pro bono basis.

Business for South Africa (‘B4SA’) is an alliance of South African volunteers working with the South African government and other social partners, as well as various stakeholders, to mobilise business resources and capacity to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In its current form, B4SA is focused on supporting the government- led national vaccine programme with an ultimate objective of reducing, and ultimately removing, the impacts of the pandemic and returning to a fully functional economy. EOH built the cloud-hosted B4SA website over the weekend preceding the initial hard lockdown in March 2020 on a pro bono basis. The site has provided a means to communicate accurate, clear and transparent information on how to navigate the many challenges faced during this time, as well as access the appropriate available support.

EOH provides ongoing assistance with the development of the Business for South Africa online presence (including, design, hosting and backend development) in support of Business Leadership SA and Business Unity SA’s efforts to provide information, support and tools to assist businesses to manage issues related to areas like labour, economic support, legal matters and functional guidelines and businesses navigated and continue to navigate the effects of the Pandemic and South Africa’s economic recovery.

South Africa has a staggering youth unemployment rate and a poor economic outlook. And yet there is tremendous talent, intelligence, and innovation in this country, as well as an urgent demand for IT skills. EOH also supports both abled and differently-abled learners through Belgium Campus, an ITversity that trains young people to work in the ICT industry and equips them with the necessary soft skills, attitudes and behaviours to make them work-ready.

In 2021, 80 students were supported by EOH financially to study towards a Bachelor of Computing degree or a diploma in IT, for a total investment of R4.96 million. In all, 17 students were living with a disability. A total of 10 of the sponsored students worked on an exciting project aimed at improving the country’s quality of maths education, not only for deaf people, but for all learners. Just under half of the total number of students receiving financial aid towards bursaries were female.

EOH actively contributes to the Belgium Campus’s curriculum to ensure its relevance with the real world. All course content is in line with national qualifications but is also tailored to address industry specific and student needs. EOH helps the campus to enrich its academics by assigning students to real-life work projects that test their understanding of business processes and systems, their grasp of customer-centric product development, and their ability to work in multidisciplinary teams. EOH employees give guest lectures each year to share their expertise about certain business technologies and frameworks in action.

EOH recognises the potential of young people to shape the economy and the country. With South African youth aged 15 to 24 and 25 to 34 recording the unemployment rates of 63.3% and 41.3% respectively, it is vital that the private sector fosters employability and economic inclusion. The Youth Employment Service (‘YES’) is a business-led collaboration that seeks out ground-breaking ways, through innovation and technological best practice, to reignite the economy and give youth a dignified first chance.

The YES 12-month quality work experience equips unemployed youth with a pathway to participate in meaningful work and enhance their employability. Through the YES initiative, EOH supported 140 unemployed youth to develop their skills as they begin their journey towards becoming inspiring leaders.