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This is
our vision
- Social Impact: Designed to empower talented youth from disadvantaged background and so changing the lives of more than 75 young people per year!
- Run economically sustainable: More than 50% will be generated by own income, coming from membership-fees, restaurant and agency
- providing skilled and workplace-ready staff for hospitality
- helping to create own Start-ups
- Developing a Social Restaurant Franchise System
Meet the team
Mbuyi Jongqo
COOKtastic is Mbuyi’s brainchild! Previously, Mbuyi spent five years as the Programme and Job Placement Manager at the Salesian Institute Youth Projects, Cape Town, where she mentored hundreds of young people to achieve personal sustainability and personal progress. Growing up in a rural village in the Eastern Cape, she at an early stage of her life’s journey, mastered the skill of compiling her own menu-for-living, tackling life’s challenges head-on, and always remember that “too many cooks spoil the broth”! Her fervour for the personal empowering of the youth has a positive impact. So to youth out there! Chumani!Andile Ndikandika
is an accredited South African Life-Skills trainer and out-reach programme manager. He will facilitate the Work-Readiness Programmes in a freelancing capacity. Andile is multi-lingual and contributes additionally the deep understanding and the personal link to the communities. Asking for his deep drive, he says “I want to die empty!”
Robyn Marney
With 15 years of experience as a Chef, Robyn Marney always had the passion for cooking and leading, holding senior levels in renowned kitchens like CTICC or Radisson Blue. However, there was always a desire in her heart to encourage, empower and to share her accumulated knowledge. She feels blessed, having been taught by talented Chefs. Therefore, she is super excited about the opportunity at COOKtastic to train and equip individuals with the necessary knowledge needed in order to make it big in the hospitality industry and to strive for success. Nothing is ever impossible! All you need to do, is never give up on your dreams in life!
Brigitte Sachs-Schaffer
is an experienced Austrian-based systemic business consultant. Being thankful for a highly privileged personal and professional life, she also wants to die empty. Her passion for COOKtastic is to prove, that up-to-date economic success does go together with social and ecological impact. Brigitte contributes partly remote from Austria, partly in Cape Town.
Shada Francis
Shada Francis is globally recognized for her work as an International Trainer, Transformational & Empowerment Coach; Educator and Mentor. She is also a Cognitive Behavior Therapist and NLP Licensed Practioner.
For Shada, motivating, training and coaching is not a profession but passion with purpose. A purpose to help people unleash their true and unrealized potential. Her passion has helped her successfully work and lead a range of employees from over 20 countries. She has worked closely with youth development projects in China, Prague and the UK.
She believes that, BELIEF is the key to becoming the greatest version of yourself, and has used her own journey as an example to inspire others to do the same.
OUR PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS
We thank Rotary Austria for financing the kitchen investment, students´uniforms and safety shoes.
We are working on MoU’s with our hospitality partners. We are working on international Business Partnerships. We are working on support by public and private funders.
The COOKtastic HUB has been founded in March 2019 as NPO, registered in June 2019 as Non Profit Company with the No 2019/287104/08. This is the South African legal entity for an organisation whose purpose is to earn own income to invest it responsibly and sustainably in social and societal development. Being accredited a Public Benefit Organisation, we may apply also for public and private funding, however, not being dependent on it. The public accreditation of our entry-level culinary training with CATHSSETA is in progress
(Status – March 2020)