Special commendation — Best Corporate Employee Community Involvement Programme: Archibald Holtzhausen and Absa Bank
Archie Holtzhausen, an avid cyclist and triathlete, was participating in a cycling competition in 2005 when he noticed a teenager doing remarkably well on the course. After the race, Holtzhausen learned the youth was one of 11 from the Jacaranda Children’s Home participating that day.
Holtzhausen decided he wanted to be involved in helping these children succeed. He launched a life-changing initiative that now helps more than 200 underprivileged children from the Jacaranda and Louis Botha children’s homes in Pretoria.
They are non-profit organisations that look after the welfare of abused children, between the ages of 18 months and 18 years, who have been
removed from their parents’ care. The evidence of the programme’s success can be seen in the children. Shy children become outgoing and sociable and have increased self-confidence.
They participate more readily in school activities and many have been removed from the home’s reform school list because of model behaviour. Participants attend a weekly cycling development programme.
Lessons focus on teamwork, basic bicycle maintenance and learning to finish whatever they start. The programme is not just about the enjoyment of cycling, it also teaches the children perseverance, responsibility, good eating habits, living an alcohol- and drug-free lifestyle, learning about healthy competition, self-discipline and time management.
Four boys who participated in the programme and performed well were offered contracts as cyclists in professional teams and now earn a living through the sport. Holtzhausen has raised sponsorships worth about R1-million to cover operational costs, a 20-seater bus, 50 bicycles and a trailer that holds 24 bicycles.
The Investing in the Future judges said his cycling programme was an example of the positive impact an individual could have. “It has sustained and revolutionised the lives of the kids. It has ignited a passion in kids who wouldn’t even think of cycling before,” they said.
Holtzhausen has adopted a multifunding and support strategy to ensure sustainability. This includes 55 individual donors, five companies (including Absa), five newspapers, the SuperSport TV channel, 22 event organisers and 400 employees of the Absa financial cluster.
He is the head of business integration at Absa and takes part in the Absa Volunteer Programme, which has been rolled out through different platforms since 1995. More than 12 000 Absa employees are part of the volunteer programme and last year they raised more than R5-million for communities across South Africa.
The company’s support for Holtzhausen includes giving him 10 days a year to work on the cycling programme. It has provided cycling clothes and T-shirts for the children and presented Holtzhausen with the Absa Prestige and the Barclays Chairman awards. Absa also makes up to R10 000 available in support of employee initiatives and contributed this amount to the cycling programme.