Paul Bacher

ByWBSComms

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!

Sign up to be a mentor!
http://mentorshipmovement.co.za/

Similar Posts

  • Thabo Mokwele

    ByWBSComms

    WB Yeats said, “Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold,” which holds a harsh lesson for me. I took my radio broadcasting talent for granted. Because it came so easily, I began not to pay it attention and focused on what others considered important.

  • Nazli Jugbaran

    ByWBSComms

    Heraclitus said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” My entire life and career have been and continue to be defined by a series of radical changes; a series of moments, based on numerous epiphanies that have led to an amazing journey of personal transformation and an exploration of experiencing the true nature of who we are.

  • Paul Ballen

    ByWBSComms

    The glow of the newly installed blue iridescent Paul’s Homemade Ice Cream logo on the opening of our first the store in The Zone, Rosebank, in December 2015, was a moment that brought with it an understanding of where my career was rapidly moving.

  • Maurice Goodman

    ByWBSComms

    Looking back, two defining moments stand out for me. The first was enrolling for a Wits MBA as a result of the encouragement from my late dad. At the time it was very unusual for a medical doctor to do an MBA and I am indebted to the then dean, Prof Andy Andrews, for putting his faith in me and accepting me onto the course. 

  • Deon Opperman

    ByWBSComms

    The defining moment of my career happened when I was 12 years old. My father was the managing director of Glenton & Mitchell in the Eastern Cape, the company that launched Joko Tea during the first half of the 20th century. 

  • Diane Radley

    ByWBSComms

    When I was growing up I feared failure and the devastation I thought would ensue. I wanted to be perfect and felt any form of failure was letting me and other people down, particularly my mother who had made tremendous sacrifices in bringing up three children alone on a music teacher’s salary.