Harvard South Africa Fellowship Alum Chuma Qwalela returns from Harvard and assists with strategy for United Way South Africa

November 24, 2020

By Li-Ming Pan, Communications and External Relations Officer, Harvard Center for African Studies

We caught up with one of our Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program Alumni, Chuma Qwalela. Qwalela completed the General Management Program at the Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2018 as a fellow of the Harvard South Africa Fellowship Program. Before coming to Harvard, she was very focused on a corporate career track, working at the South Africa Reserve Bank. At HBS, Chuma learned more about herself than anything else, meaning that she discovered her passions, strengths, and how she could apply each beyond the corporate environment. After HBS, she had a clearer vision of how she can make a bigger impact doing what she loves, and came back from Harvard completely transformed. “You aren’t one dimensional anymore… you are looking at things with an open mind, and your scope is wider on how you can be involved,” Qwalela said.

She added, “Coming back from Harvard, you come back energized, optimistic, and looking for opportunities to make the world a better place.” Needless to say, that is exactly what she did.

Qwalela is now on the board for United Way South Africa (UWSA), supporting the organization’s fundraising strategy, and building relationships with local sponsors. UWSA is a nonprofit organization that promotes collaboration between relevant stakeholders in order to leverage, aggregate, support, and expand common development programs for disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. UWSA provides on the ground assistance to help communities gain access to quality education, health, and financial stability; now, since COVID-19 hit, UWSA has been focusing on health.

Qwalela’s expertise in corporate strategy as well as her Harvard experience has brought new knowledge and perspectives on how to help UWSA in various ways. She integrates her Reserve Bank experience to non-profit strategy by connecting financial partners with the work UWSA does.

Currently, UWSA supplies relief food to townships and supports students with meals, learning materials, and extra tuition classes in Mathematics, Science, and English. They also share up-to-date and accurate information about COVID-19 and deliver financial education. UWSA supports frontline workers at hospitals with supplies to thank them for their efforts.

Qwalela also brings the strategy-side of her corporate experience into the fundraising conversations on how to be more impactful in communities and show the sustainable impact to prospective corporate sponsors.

At UWSA, Qwalela is most passionate about the financial education programs. These programs provide financial education to communities on how to manage their income better, how to save, and how to avoid scams.

One of the biggest hurdles Qwalela is working on is how to shift the fundraising model in South Africa from corporations who support nonprofits through their Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programs to more individual giving. Individual giving in South Africa is very different from the United States due to the US model having more individual giving. This shift to more individual giving in South Africa can lift the burden of the larger individual funders by connecting to a larger base. To do this, Qwalela has introduced a philanthropy forum to tap into South Africa’s high-net worth individuals. However, Qwalela sees a few challenges in having a successful individual giving system in South Africa. There is a need for better technology where individuals can easily donate and track where the donations are going, keep organizations accountable, and connect the individuals to the causes they are passionate about.

“You don’t want to come back from your Harvard experience and do the same thing.” The Harvard experience has transformed Qwalela and in turn her work with UWSA will change many communities in South Africa.

Chuma Qwalela, Strategy and Change Executive

Chuma Qwalela Profile Photo
Chuma is a strategy and change executive, with over 20 years’ experience in financial services, mining and ICT. She has held various senior and advisory positions across these sectors, from strategy consulting to execution of complex, large scale organizational turnarounds. She currently specializes in financial services regulatory advisory, specifically on implementation of the financial sector regulatory reforms. In her career, Chuma has led the implementation of the Prudential Authority program at the South African Reserve Bank as part of the Twin Peaks model of financial regulation. She later got involved with the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) as Head of Strategy and Change, responsible for formulating and delivering on a new multi-asset class clearing and settlement platform in South Africa. Chuma holds a BCom (Honors) in Economics and Management from University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Gordon Institute of Business Science. She has completed a General Management Program with the Harvard Business School in Boston, USA.