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Cape Town – South Africa’s science education crisis has seen the emergence of a new generation of social entrepreneurs, with the latest star winning R600 000 to scale a business that provides science practical kits to underprivileged schools.
Nkazimulo Applied Sciences founder Bathabile Mpofu received the cash injection after winning the 2016 Total Startupper of the Year competition this month.
Mpofu's company delivers 52 physical science-related experiments for use by high school learners. Packaged in one box for just R699, ChemStart offers a fun experiment per week for the whole year.
The goal of the project is to get children interested in science and to help them see how science works practically, by teaching them how to make soap or plastic or demonstrating, for instance, how fireflies create their light.
Mpofu told Fin24 that her science kit was chosen as it fits the criteria of being profitable and scalable, while showing a high level of social impact.
“When the moment came (and I was announced as the winner) … I couldn’t believe it,” the bubbly chemist told Fin24. “It was a great feeling.”
Mpofu’s ambition as a social entrepreneur is made even more impressive by her other commitments as a part-time MBA student at UCT’s Graduate School of Business, a manager at a Durban-based technology firm and a wife and mother of three.
However, her victory has allowed her to resign from her job as a manager and focus more energy on scaling her business.
PODCAST: Listen to full interview with Bathabile Mpofu
SA’s science education crisis
The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness report for 2015/16 placed South Africa at 138th out of 140 countries for its maths and science education.
Mpofu experienced it first-hand in KwaZulu-Natal, where she received poor science education at an underprivileged school.
She explained that of the 21 000 “ordinary schools” in South Africa, only 1 200 are equipped with science kits or have stocked labs.
Mpofu said her dream is to unleash the “scientist in learners” by providing a science kit that will help them overcome all their challenges.
She started by giving science demonstrations at schools but realised she could reach more children, especially those in underprivileged schools, by supplying ready-packaged science projects.
“A lot of people don’t want to start science, because they think it is difficult,” she said. “We initially went to disadvantaged schools and performed experiments there, but … we weren’t getting the impact we were hoping.
“In just that one week we were at that school, the kids were excited. They wanted to study science, but two months down the line, they had forgotten all about it,” she said. “They knew about all the troubles they (would) face on a daily basis.”
Bathabile Mpofu conducting a science practical in a school in KwaZulu-Natal. (Photo: Supplied)
Wow factor meets curriculum
ChemStart “gives them an opportunity to interact on a practical level with science concepts”, she said.
“The experiments have that wow factor … and we’re trying to link that wow factor with the concept they learn at school (so they can) understand how science is applied in daily life.
“Kids like to explore. If science is presented in an abstract way, it doesn’t seem appealing but if they interact with it and begin to understand the application of science, then it becomes a different story,” Mpofu said.
The money she won from the competition is going into manufacturing her first stock of kits, which includes beakers, Erlenmeyer flask with stopper, measuring cylinder, spatula, test tubes, test tube rack and a thermometer.
Growth plans
ChemStart will be launched at EduWeek in Midrand on June 29-30, where Mpofu hopes businesses and the Department of Education will show interest in sponsoring the kits to underprivileged school kids.
She has already received many positive responses, from individuals as well as corporations. “People are ready for this product,” said Mpofu.
Asked if the kit has been authorised officially, Mpofu said the Education Department never authorises commercial learning tools, but said the learnings follow the curriculum. As a former university chemistry technician with five years' experience, she should know.
Finally, Mpofu says profit from the kit will be used to sponsor mentors to tutor the learners from those “ordinary schools”, to ensure their practical learning matches their theoretical learning.
“We need to encourage a culture of wanting to learn,” she said. “There are many opportunities for entrepreneurs in South Africa, but people are not in the culture of educating themselves about the environment they are living in and what they need to do to succeed.”
