Francesca Villette
SHE did not have much growing up.
From a poor family in the hamlet town of Simondium, near Paarl, Mercia Isaacs, 63, was aware of the injustices she was exposed to as a result of the segregation laws in South Africa.
Despite the struggles her family of seven faced, her parents gave her one invaluable tool she needed to conquer what she wanted – an education.
Now the executive chairperson of Vuya! Investments and the chairperson of Vuya! Foundation, Isaacs and the foundation are giving thousands of children from disadvantaged backgrounds the chance to break away from poverty and change the life courses of their offspring for generations to come.
Isaacs has served as an executive member of several boards, including Women in Leadership at the UCT Graduate School of Business.
She is currently a council member at the Health Professions Council of South Africa, a non-executive director of Henkel South Africa, current chairperson of GF Jooste Hospital board and current chairperson of the new Mitchells Plain Hospital.
For the past four years, she has also been a member of council for Diocesan College.
Isaacs was also the first female chairperson of the Western Cape Tender Board and a former board member of UCT’s student-run NGO, Shawco.
Isaacs said that the Vuya! Foundation, which started in 2010, addresses needs in communities with a special focus on education, health and job creation in the Cape Winelands and Witzenberg area. Over five years, it has awarded bursaries to around 1.3 million children.
An early childhood development centre in Prince Alfred hamlet, about 146km outside Cape Town, takes care of around 80 children every day who would otherwise be roaming the streets or at home, receiving little brain stimulation.
The centre has become the pride of the community, multiplying its uses from counselling to receiving requests for baptism parties.
“As a little girl I knew that what was happening in South Africa was wrong, my father never tried to camouflage it. My brothers were studying teaching and talks in the house had surfaced about how bad the education system had become.
“I believe everything in my life has led me to this place – of making a difference in the lives of children through education,” Isaacs said.
In driving women’s empowerment, the foundation has also partnered with a company to develop women-led small and medium enterprises with a focus on rural areas.
“Women are the backbones of society. It is a deliberate strategy of Vuya’s to educate and upskill them,” Isaacs said.