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Johannesburg-based medical practitioner and entrepreneur, Dr. Rufaro Nyamuda, has proven that she is a bundle of beauty and brain as she has emerged the winner of the Volkswagen Touareg Sabbatical campaign. She will now be able to turn her dream into reality through this uncommon feat.
The Volkswagen Touareg Sabbatical Initiative had asked South Africans to share their ideas of how they would put the luxury of time to good use, with a sabbatical dedicated to making a difference. An impressive 1, 380 plans were submitted by fans of the brand – but only one of these applicants was promised the opportunity to turn his to her idea into reality.
At an announcement interview hosted by broadcaster Bruce Whitfield, Nyamuda was declared the successful applicant of the campaign. Her business idea was reviewed by a panel of industry experts, including Volkswagen’s Marketing and Communications Manager, Meredith Kelly and Ogilvy’s Creative Director, Mike Martin and deemed to have the potential to be “extraordinarily impactful to communities.”
Commenting on Nyamuda’s entry, Volkswagen’s Head of Communications, Andile Dlamini, said, “The standard of the ideas submitted to our Volkswagen Touareg Sabbatical campaign have been exceptional. The variety of ideas that we received made it a very difficult task to select one recipient to receive funding. However, Nyamuda’s plan has the potential to make a significant social impact, and that is what we were hoping for when we began this journey.”
As part of this major national campaign, the public was offered an all-expense paid three-month sabbatical and invited to send in ideas that could make a valuable contribution to the country, but that may have been put on the back burner due to time and money constraints.
Dr Rufaro Nyamuda’s vision – to devise a comprehensive and robust healthcare management and educational platform, which promotes the optimal medical support of children from Grade 0 to Grade 12 – resonated with panelists as a worthy contender for funding.
Explaining the concept behind the idea that won the heart of the panelists, Nyamuda said, “There is an urgent need for change in the way we manage schools’ healthcare policies, which are well overdue for an upgrade and digital transformation. My solution is to create CEBISA (meaning ‘one who gives advice’ in Xhosa), which is a modern-day healthcare tool.
“CEBISA is intelligently designed as a ‘digital school nurse’ and promotes a healthy school environment by providing easily accessible resources to improve preventative care, manage chronic conditions and provide basic primary healthcare services. It allows parents and guardians, as well as school staff and students, access to a structured e-learning portal.”
Expressing her joy at emerging the winner of the campaign, she said, “To be able to turn my dream into a reality is a tremendous opportunity – one that would not be possible without the support of the Volkswagen Touareg Sabbatical campaign,” adding, “To be recognised as someone who can make a real difference to society is a huge accolade of which I am very proud.”
