Paul Bacher
Paul Bacher
Current title
Founder and Joint Chief Executive Officer, National Mentorship Movement
Course at Wits Business School
Master of Business Administration, 1995
A defining moment in my career
Since leaving Wits University, my life revolved around being an entrepreneur, co-founding NetActive, Call Centre Nucleus and NetFlorist.
However, I have always sought a life of purpose which involved serving the community in various forms, leading to my initiating and running the Jewish community’s mentorship programme OrtJet for 13 years.
In May 2015, I experienced a life-changing moment. I was with a group of 50 business and community leaders, who had assembled to discuss the state of the nation. A number of ideas were put forward to improve our country, but none with especially concrete outcomes.
Eventually, I asked for the microphone and shared the two issues that worried me most – horrific levels of unemployment and deteriorating social cohesion. I suggested that we could decisively address both of these concerns through a massive mentorship programme across the country.
I asked the group to imagine the impact if we could connect hundreds of thousands of mentors from corporate South Africa and beyond to mentor people in SMMEs, education, municipal government and state-owned enterprises.
Almost immediately, the group mandated me to turn this vision into a reality – a reality which has become the National Mentorship Movement!
