Social ENTREPRENEUR: RETHA CILLIERS | A DECADE AGO the term social entrepreneur was virtually unknown. Nowadays, according to an article in a recent issue of The Economist, everyone from London to Lagos wants to be one. In the United States in July this year its new Social Innovation Fund made its first 11 investments of US$50m of state funds, supplemented by $74m from philanthropic institutions, that will be donated to some of the country’s most successful non-profit organisations to expand their work in areas such as healthcare and job creation.
And in Liverpool, new British Prime Minister David Cameron set out his vision of a “Big Society”. It agrees in essence with US President Barack Obama’s view: a Big Society Bank will help fund social entrepreneurs, welfare organisations and voluntary groups through intermediaries.
In South Africa, Lubner Group chairman Bertie Lubner and his brother, Ronnie, made a R6m gift to the nation in 1997 to establish field bands, a concept that already at that stage enjoyed great support in Europe and the US. The first five field bands were established in Soweto, Springs, Port Elizabeth, Stellenbosch and Durban. They have since grown to 38 bands countrywide, thanks to the leadership and enthusiasm of Retha Cilliers, who lives in Durban.
Cilliers, who was a professional bassoon player for years, was manager of KwaZulu-Natal’s Philharmonic Orchestra when she was approached to be CEO of the Field Band Foundation. “I wasn’t impressed. A typical classical music snob, I thought: ‘Brass bands – what are they? No, thank you!’”
But then Bertie Lubner convinced her to just go and take a look… “In Dobsonville I listened to 80 members of its field band playing the National Anthem. No, not playing it – murdering it. But with such passion!”
In August 1999 Cilliers’ career changed irrevocably and she became the personification of a social entrepreneur: someone who develops an innovative answer to a social problem.
“The music world is tremendously self-centred,” she says, explaining just how drastic that change was. “You’re only as good as your last performance and the only thing you think about is how to play better. It’s all about you. In the field band, nothing is about me. When I started with the Field Band I decided I had to know the children’s names, because it’s necessary for these children – who come from the most dreadful circumstances imaginable – to be given a feeling of self-worth.”
She now knows about 700 by name. And they all have her cellphone number. “But they know that if they phone me about some nonsense I hang up on them.”
Cilliers sums up the heart of the organisation by telling the story of one of the Field Band children. He started playing in the Soweto band at the age of 16 after running away from home because his alcoholic father assaulted him mercilessly after his alcoholic mother had died. Now he’s 27, has just bought his own car, is married, has studied in the US and Norway and has a full-time position as a musician in SA’s Air Force band. And in the afternoons he’s a Field Band instructor.
Cilliers says they don’t necessarily select the most musical children for the bands. “We take those children who show that they want to help themselves and we give them a chance in life. We create opportunities for them and network on their behalf. Things such as discipline, respect, punctuality and tidiness are not negotiable. In certain respects we’re a kind of finishing school.”
The success of the Field Band Foundation – which already has 4 000 children playing in 38 bands and with a turnover of R12m/year – has appealed to scores of companies over the years. The movement is supported by 48 financial providers and around 35 companies that do pro bono work. “We also get money from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund from year to year, which is enough for all our vehicles and instruments. Some of our sponsors have been supporting the project for years: PG Bison (12 years), De Beers (10 years), Anglo American (eight), Remgro (six) Black Like Me, Steffanutti Stocks and Investec (six).
“Companies agree to support the Field Band because it’s a good news story, because our results are good and because our financial reporting is beyond reproach: they know what their money is being spent on and they like what they see.”
Every year a competition is held in which all the Field Bands – some with members as young as seven – take part. At 21, they resign: some become instructors; others get jobs in other directions.
Some of the children also get the opportunity to study in Norway, where brass bands are very popular. Norway – with a population of 4m – has 1 800 brass bands, which are regarded as a very important nation-building element. On 17 May, Norway’s national day, a South African Field Band took part in the procession of 183 bands through the streets of Oslo.
In the spirit of the Field Band movement, the children who display the best behaviour – not necessarily the very best musicians – are chosen for that experience. “The Field Band has a code of conduct that’s been written by the children themselves. I wouldn’t have made it quite so strict, but it’s further evidence of the children’s sincere striving for something better in life.”
In addition to ties with the Norwegian Band Foundation, NMF, the South African Field Band also has ties with the Flemish Amateur Music Organisation, Vlamo, and the Dutch Music Organisation, Kunstfactor, as well as with the Drum Corps in Britain and the US. For the past 10 years the Norwegians have been instrumental in building the South African movement through highly qualified teachers.
Cilliers is very excited about the Field Band Academy in Eshowe, which was formed this year with six teachers from Norway, and where, in addition to music, the children are being taught computer skills, literacy and numeracy. She’s looking for a donation of R10m to restore the school building.
There’s nothing left of the classical musician sceptical about the idea of a brass band. Cilliers bubbles with enthusiasm about her second career, which has enabled her to turn around the lives of thousands of children from underprivileged communities. She sums it up as follows: “I can’t believe a person can have such an incredibly fantastic job!”
Her aim is eventually to involve 40 000 children.
ICE-BREAKERSWhat do you admire most in others?
People who live with passion.
What irritates you most of all?
People who don’t find solutions but only see problems.
What was your greatest highlight as a musician?
Performing Verdi’s Requiem in the medieval cathedral in Toledo.
And as CEO of the Field Band Foundation?
Each and every one of the kids who breaks the cycle of unemployment in their family.
What are your thoughts about the country’s future?
If the politicians would leave us alone, we’d get along just fine – the Soccer World Cup showed we can and will.