HOLLARD STREETWISE FINANCE IMPACT STORY It is with a full heart that I submit this report on the Hollard Streetwise Finance rollout across the Northern Cape for the July–August 2026 reporting period. Beyond the numbers — which I am proud to share are strong — this cycle carried some of the most moving training experiences of my career as a facilitator. I have tried, in the pages that follow, to do justice to the people we met, the courage they showed, and the difference this programme made in communities that too often feel unseen. PROGRAMME OVERVIEW The rollout took place over three consecutive engagements, each chosen to reach communities in the Northern Cape that face real barriers to financial information and inclusion. We moved from Roodepan, to Promise Land, and finally to a specialised session hosted in partnership with DPSA and DEET, two national organisations working with persons living with disabilities. The programme opened in Roodepan, a Kimberley community that is predominantly coloured and one that, in my experience as a facilitator working across the Northern Cape, continues to feel underserved and often overlooked when opportunities are handed out. Over two sessions we welcomed a rich mix of participants — energetic youth sitting alongside older community members who had waited a long time for a programme like this to reach their doorstep. A total of 64 participants completed training in Roodepan. What struck me was the intergenerational hunger for financial knowledge: young people wanting a foothold into better money habits before life's pressures set in, and older residents finally getting language and tools for financial decisions they had been navigating alone for years. It set exactly the right tone for the weeks that followed — a reminder that Streetwise Finance is not just a youth programme; it is a community one. PROMISE LAND — THE STORY THAT WILL STAY WITH US The following week we moved to Promise Land, a township area of Kimberley marked by shacks and hardship, where 230 participants came through our sessions — the single largest group of the entire rollout. If Roodepan set the tone, Promise Land is where this programme found its deepest purpose. Among the participants were young men widely known in the community as substance users — boys battling addiction to tik, nyaope, and other substances. I will be honest: I did not expect the level of engagement I witnessed. These young men arrived and gave the sessions everything. They asked sharp, relevant questions. They threw themselves into every activity. They grasped and applied every concept we placed in front of them, and did so with a sharpness that humbled me as a facilitator. “Thank you for bringing this opportunity to us. We never thought we would ever receive a certificate in our lives, not with the choices we've made.” — Participants, Promise Land After the sessions closed, several of these young men came to find me personally. They thanked me, thanked Avocado Vision, and thanked Hollard — not for a hand-out, but for a moment of dignity. For many of them, the certificate they walked away with was the first piece of paper in their lives that told them they were capable of something. That is not a small thing. That is the kind of moment that reminds all of us why this work matters, and it is a story I believe Hollard and Avocado Vision should be proud to have made possible. DPSA & DEET — A SESSION I WAS HONOURED TO DELIVER The rollout closed with an invitation from two national organisations, DPSA and DEET, who work with persons living with a range of disabilities. Here we trained 85 participants — among them individuals who are blind, others who use hearing aids, and others who are non-verbal. The host organisations made every provision necessary to ensure the session was fully accessible, and their preparation made a real difference. These participants are currently enrolled in a year-long national programme, working across local schools on set days each week — cleaning classrooms and school grounds, assisting teachers, and supporting kitchen staff — before returning to the classroom on scheduled dates for sessions such as ours. Working with this community has always been one of the honours of my career. People living with disabilities so often describe feeling forgotten, overlooked in rooms built for people without their challenges in mind. That was not the case here. They were sharp. They were engaged. They made the session entirely their own, and asked for more before we had even finished. The teamwork and warmth between participants — the way they supported one another through every activity — is something I have rarely seen matched in any training room, disability or otherwise. “One participant, who is non-verbal, was so determined to take part in the discussion that she kept trying to speak until she found a way to give us even a hint of what she wanted to say — and the room waited for her, with patience and love, until she did.” That single moment captured everything this programme stands for. The impact of that session did not end with the participants. My class assistant was so moved by the experience that she has since decided to enrol in sign language classes, so that she can communicate more fully with participants like these in future sessions. That is the kind of ripple effect that no target or spreadsheet can measure — but it is, I believe, exactly the kind of impact Hollard set out to create when this programme was designed CLOSING REFLECTION Across Roodepan, Promise Land, and the DPSA/DEET session, this rollout reached 379 participants against a target of 377 — but the number that matters most to me is not on this page. It is the certificate held by a young man in Promise Land who never expected to hold one. It is a woman in a DPSA session who refused to let silence stop her from being heard. It is an assistant facilitator now signing up for sign language classes because one afternoon in the Northern Cape changed how she sees her own work. On behalf of my team, thank you to Avocado Vision and Hollard for trusting me to carry this programme into these communities. It is a privilege I do not take lightly, and I look forward to continuing this work in the next reporting cycle. Ishmael Hangula Avocado Vision-Training Partner, Northern Cape