SAB foundation & Chelo - Innovation meets Education
"With the assistance from SAB Foundation funding, we are able to invite more donors and organisations to enhance infrastructure and improve learning outcomes." — Maker Khalo, Founder of Chelo.
SAB foundation & Chelo - Innovation meets Education
Throughout 2025, Chelo was a participant in the SAB Foundation's prestigious Social Innovation Awards —a program that validated our mission to "pour back" into the communities that raised us. This wasn't a journey we took in isolation, but rather the result of a powerful ecosystem coming together to support scalable change.
Seeds Sown at the Festival of Ideas
The path into this program began at the annual Festival of Ideas, a platform hosted by GIBS (Gordon Institute of Business Science) and the SAB Foundation. It was here where the initial sparks defining our 2025 trajectory ignited. During the festival, we had the privilege of working with Sibongile Zulu from Capital Unlocked, who became instrumental in helping us refine our value proposition to the community.
Rene Dinkoanyane from GIBS, was the catalyst who shared the Social Innovation Awards application with us, encouraging Chelo to take the leap into the formal program.
Teaming with SABfoundation
Once the moment of reckoning, through Itumeleng Dhlamini's site visit, was complete, it was off to the races for Chelo. We were able to reconnect with associates from Festival of Ideas, the likes of Onthatile ditshego aiding Chelo navigate as we grew. This has allowed us to scale from being a local venture into having operations across mutliple districts, aiming to maximize our reach to being a true trans-provincial outlet supporting education nationally.
What's Next
"With the assistance from SAB Foundation funding, we are able to invite more donors and organisations to enhance infrastructure and improve learning outcomes." — Maker Khalo, Founder of Chelo.
Our CEO, reiterates our drive to becoming a key partner in making education accessible to all. Working with the right parties will only hasten the process and lead to more children being empowered.
Join Us!
Whether you’re an alumnus, a donor, a teacher, or simply someone who believes in education — you belong in the Chelo community