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On Wednesday, 13 April, Standard Bank launched their build up to the 2016 Youth Expo in conjunction with industry partners to ensure the success of the event and the longevity behind supporting South Africa’s young adults.

ADDaBIT have joined the cause by providing on online environment by which Standard Bank and its collaborators intend to help raise R3 000 000 to go towards student’s university fees. As Motlasi Mkalala, Senior Manager for Youth Customer Financial Solutions, stated “Financial exclusion remains the single major reason for university drop-outs and this expo serves to highlight this concern for the future stability and growth of the employment sector in this country.

ADDaBIT CEO, Michael Griffin is excited and motivated to be a part of this incredible initiative. “Funding your own way through tertiary education leaves little energy to excel academically. The stresses of bootstrapping your education can be alleviated with forethought and planning. This is made seamless by using the ADDaBIT, simple, social, saving platform. Families and communities are able to jointly contribute to something as significant as a child’s education and future by small amounts given over an extended period of time. Whether it be for birthdays, religious occasions or a form of encouragement, these are opportunities to give a bit for now and a bit for later.”

For more information and an opportunity to speak to Michael Griffin of ADDaBIT contact Michael@ADDaBIT.com or 083 212 2389

And to contribute to this fund in support of the Youth Expo, scan the following QR code:

Currently in South Africa, only about 15% of high school students make it to university, and the youth unemployment rate rests at 63.1% ­- no doubt with the former influencing the latter. The situation seems bleak until you realise that Branded Youth, with headline sponsor Standard Bank, has developed a platform that will provide South African matriculants and university students with the tools needed to navigate this volatile economic environment: the Standard Bank Youth Expo, to be held in on 06 and 07 August this year at the Sandton Convention Centre.

“There’s a greater need for brands and organizations to engage with the youth of South Africa to ensure that they are educated and empowered for the future, we therefore designed The Standard Bank Youth Expo as a platform that will fully cater to this,” says Bradley Maseko, MD of Branded Youth.

The Standard Bank Youth Expo will run as a career exhibition and youth conference with the aim of inspiring and assisting South Africa’s future leaders, entrepreneurs and all­ round ambitious value­seekers by offering them access to networks, organisations and information that will have a valuable impact on their professional journeys.

“Our research and the current political climate show that South African youth are concerned about their future outlook,” says Motlatsi Mkalala, Senior Manager for Youth Customer Financial Solutions at Standard Bank South Africa. “They are afraid of becoming another unemployment statistic, failed entrepreneurs, or being unable to afford their tertiary tuition. The Standard Bank Youth Expo will show them that this does not have to be the case. The Youth Expo will provide all the resources necessary that can help turn dreams of future success and prosperity into reality.”

Furthermore, through the expo, Standard Bank and Branded Youth aim to raise R3 million through sponsorships, exhibitor contributions, donations from the public at large including private businesses. Once achieved, the money will be donated to various tertiary institutions, so they can award bursaries to deserving students.

“The fund isn’t reliant on the expo, however,” Mr Mkalala continues. “The public are welcome to join us in changing lives and building a better South Africa together by contributing to our crowd­funded “Pay It Forward” fund on the ADDaBIT­ Simple Social Saving platform. For contributions to the fund, Visit www.ADDaBIT.com, go to search fund and insert the fund code ‘ACHNZAAHUw’. On the Fund Page click “add­a­bit” to start contributing.

“The need to provide young South Africans with opportunities and access to quality tertiary education is now urgent and paramount to our nation’s success. If our youth move forward, the country moves forward, meaning prosperity for all in all spheres – the Standard Bank Youth Expo is a step in the right direction in facilitating a better future for all,” concludes Mr Mkalala.

The Standard Bank Youth Expo will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre on 06 and 07 August. For more information, to book your exhibition stand or for the conference schedule, visit the expo page on www.brandedyouth.co.za

ADDaBIT™, the recently launched online crowd-sourcing savings platform continues to grow with more and more people seeing the benefit of contributing to a fund for family and friends.

With innovation at the heart of the platform, ADDaBIT™ has introduced a new feature that allows contributors to add to a fund using Social Media networks, facebook and twitter.

CEO of ADDaBIT™ Michael Griffin says, “We have worked tirelessly to build an easy to use platform, offering a seamless user experience from sign up, to creating a fund and inviting others to contribute, as well as adding beneficiaries. We are excited with our latest addition to the platform that makes the investor collaboration simpler. Funds can now be shared via Social Media and contributors can add their bit to a beneficiary’s fund in a secure environment without belonging to the platform.”

The ADDaBIT application makes use of a Tier 2 banking platform to ensure the security of each fund.

Despite initial beneficiaries being children with funds for big ticket items financed by friends and family, more and more customers have been using ADDaBIT™ to save for weddings and honeymoons with groups of families and friends savings for Stokvels or holidays.

“As a serial entrepreneur, I understand the need for products and services to evolve, continues Griffin. “ADDaBIT™ was borne out of the desire to reduce wasteful spending on piles of often unneccesary toys for children and to rather encourage contributions towards something more meaningful and start saving toward long term needs or goals, it’s overwhelming to see how our customers are embracing this new way to save.”

South Africans have always been great travellers. Whether from further north on our great continent or the far-flung shores of Asia and Europe, our people came from all over to make us what we are today.

And now the world is shrinking and we are travelling again. There are no accurate statistics about how many South Africans live outside the country’s borders. However, a 2012 article on Politicsweb cited OECD data from 19 countries, including United Kingdom, Australia, the US, New Zealand and Canada (which have the highest numbers), show that in 2010 there were at least 588 388 individuals in these countries who were recorded as having been born in South Africa. It is likely that the real numbers are far higher than this and other data point to numbers well north of a million. Saffers are chasing opportunities around the globe, some permanently and others on a temporary basis, and this is a good thing. It’s an exciting time and the world is full of unparalleled opportunity. But it does not come without cost to them, their family and their friends.

One of the hardest things about living far from home is missing out on those special occasions and being able to participate in the little things that make extended families so wonderful. And with the SA postal situation being what it is and cash transfers being so costly from abroad, often those little gestures of support or love get forgotten – or delayed until it’s easier, which is nearly the same thing.

But this needn’t be the case. With all the financial and computing technology at our disposal we should not only be able to talk face-to-face but it should also be possible for us to give gifts as easily as we do other things.

What we need is a way of marrying the connectedness and personalisation of social media and the rigours of saving for those special things.

Enter Addabit. This recently-launched online crowd-funding platform is the perfect way for friends and family regardless of where they are in the world, to contribute towards gifts.

The easy-to-use platform which offers users the opportunity to create a gift fund for a beneficiary and invite loved ones to contribute. The fund displays a selected image of the dream gift allowing everyone to visualise the end goal as well as showing contributors the fund progress. The transparency goes a long way to ensuring that collected monies are used for the intended purpose. All this can be shared via Social Media with contributors adding to a beneficiary’s gift fund in a secure environment even if they don’t belong to the platform themselves. This means it’s the perfect way to share in the joy of Christmas without the restrictions of geography.

We want to help little Johnny buy a bike not put one number (of money) into another number (bank account). We want to see what we’re contributing to and know that it will all go to that. We want to help our loved ones and friends save for a range of things at the same time, helped along the way by the people who care.

And these gestures matter, especially when you’re far away and this is why the creation of infrastructure that allows foreign-based friends and family to participate is so important. Without this, the distances that should shrink because of technology seem to grow. And that would be a pity.

ADDaBIT™, the recently launched online crowd-funding platform is also the perfect way for friends and family, regardless of where they are in the world, to contribute towards Santa’s wish lists for this Festive Season.

The easy-to-use platform offers users the opportunity to create a fund for a beneficiary and invite others to contribute in a secure environment without belonging to the platform. This means it’s the perfect way to share in the joy of Christmas without the restrictions of geography.

“We all know that the modern South African family involves one or more members not being in the same city or even the same country over the Festive Season,” says Michael Griffin, CEO of ADDaBIT. “With our platform, friends and family can now all contribute to a single or multiple funds at the same time, so all South Africans working and living away from home can still help put gifts for their loved ones under the Christmas tree.”

Another major benefit of using ADDaBIT is not having to physically go shopping. “We’ve all had to deal with the stress of negotiating passage through and to Malls at this time of year, trying to guess what to buy and fit it all into a certain budget”, continues Griffin. “With our platform, there is no need to deal with the parking, queuing and maneuvering through crowds, now you can contribute towards that perfect gift in the comfort of your own home, without any guess work.”

“With ADDaBIT there is less chaos, less wastage and families from everywhere can contribute which means the Festive Season could be the best and most stress-less one ever!” concludes Griffin.

For more information, log on to addabit.com or like facebook.com/ADDaBIT and follow for regular updates.

ADDaBIT™, the recently launched online crowd-sourcing savings platform continues to grow with more and more people seeing the benefit of contributing to a fund for family and friends.

With innovation at the heart of the platform, ADDaBITTM has introduced a new feature that allows contributors to add to a fund using Social Media networks, Facebook and Twitter.

CEO of ADDaBITTM Michael Griffin says, “We have worked tirelessly to build an easy to use platform, offering a seamless user experience from sign up, to creating a fund and inviting others to contribute, as well as adding beneficiaries. We are excited with our latest addition to the platform that makes the investor collaboration simpler. Funds can now be shared via Social Media and contributors can add their bit to a beneficiary’s fund in a secure environment without belonging to the platform.”

The ADDaBIT application makes use of a Tier 2 banking platform to ensure the security of each fund.

Despite initial beneficiaries being children with funds for big ticket items financed by friends and family, more and more customers have been using ADDaBITTM to save for weddings and honeymoons with groups of families and friends savings for Stokvels or holidays.

“As a serial entrepreneur, I understand the need for products and services to evolve, continues Griffin. “ADDaBITTM was borne out of the desire to reduce wasteful spending on piles of often unneccesary toys for children and to rather encourage contributions towards something more meaningful and start saving toward long term needs or goals, it’s overwhelming to see how our customers are embracing this new way to save.”

Next month is National Savings Month and now more than ever consumers need to consider their spending trends and saving habits. With perfect timing, an exciting new platform called ADDaBIT™ has been launched to combat the difficulties around saving for your child’s education, necessary items or simply gifts that would make their dreams come true. A first of its kind, ADDaBIT™ offers a fresh take on saving made simple.

“Essentially ADDaBIT™ uses crowd-sourcing principles to collate funds towards a child’s dream,” explains Michael Griffin, CEO. However, with ADDaBIT™, the ‘crowd’ is made up of friends and family. “Instead of excessive birthday and Christmas gifts that have little meaning or are simply bought to provide a gift, we share the recipients’ wanted list, giving investors the opportunity to contribute towards something meaningful that is really needed or wanted. Simply put, we make dreams come true”.

Subscribers sign up and create a fund for a beneficiary and then invite investors to contribute to that specific fund. You are not limited to having only one fund but are able to, for example, establish a fund for your child’s birthday for their BMX, Ipad or jungle gym as well as a long term fund for private schooling, college tuition, a first car or any other future gifts, goals or opportunities. As the fund grows, ADDaBIT™ updates it showing the amount and percentage invested towards your target amount. This innovative and secure platform has no penalties and no minimum payments making it an attractive tool for investors to add funds as and when they can. “It is very quick to set up and your money earns market-leading interest in an Investec fund,” said Griffin. “We want to be the change that starts a world of brighter futures!

“We believe that less is more. And our aim is to challenge current behaviour. Instead of excess gifts that serve no purpose, let’s be strategic and spend on what is truly wanted,” concluded Griffin.

Simply put, ADDaBIT™ is an easy-to-use, social saving platform that solves the problem of what to buy, eliminates waste and encourages a culture of saving, something that is sorely needed.

South Africans have a unique world view that is encapsulated in one word ‘uBuntu’ which underpins how all Africans see themselves as connected by their humanness. The esteemed Archbishop Desmond Tutu stated, “You might have much of the world’s riches, and you might hold a portion of authority, but if you have no uBuntu, you do not amount to much.” This philosophy has been further explained by the sociolinguist Buntu Mfenyana as “Ubuntu ngumtu ngabanye abantu- A person is a person through other people.” The spirit of uBuntu links every person, as a man never exists in isolation and the community within which they exist becomes a fundamental element of who they are.

It is easy to see the application of this statement when we reflect on the ancient traditions of patriarchal lessons being shared around the lapa or at a community gathering. Where women have tended to one another’s children as though they belonged to the tribe and were not their sole responsibility. But is there still an application of this pure and wholesome idea in an age where technology keeps us from needing one another in meaningful ways.

Particularly in the area of financial responsibility, the philosophy of uBuntu has all but been forgotten but whilst technology can isolate, there are pockets of innovation that foster it. Crowdfunding has been one of those platforms that generates capital by public appeal to invest in an idea that they share a connection to. ADDaBIT took the idea of uBuntu and the innovation of crowdfunding and combined the two to create a platform by which family and friends are invited to share in the financial responsibility of saving.

“Instead of everyone spending a small amount of money on buying random birthday presents for their loved ones you can set up a fund and invite others to contribute to a specific gift or cause. But it can be so much more significant than that- you can help fund your niece’s first car or your grandchild’s university education,” explains ADDaBIT’s CEO, Michael Griffin. Michael came up with the concept after taking note of how much money is spent on birthday gifts that are inevitably outgrown or break and the money is wasted. “We are not against birthday gifts,” explains Michael, “we are just saying rather give something meaningful and long lasting . I think of it as such - some for now, some for later. Why not get family and friends to share in the joy of giving a loved one a beautiful new bicycle ,for now, and a tertiary education or a deposit on their first car, for later.”

ADDaBIT recently won the Excellence in Innovation award in the TT100 (Top Technology 100) Awards sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology and the Davinci Institute. They were also finalists in the Excellence in Technology and Excellence in People categories standing out from the other entrants across a multitude of industries. The secure, user friendly application of crowdfunding is set to change the way we approach saving. Rather than being a burden to your monthly income and budget, loved ones can embody that which makes us all human- our connectedness to others- and use ADDaBIT to meaningfully impact their lives.