OPENING UP THE OPTIONS: PAM’S STORY

‘If you’ve never been taught, how would you know about compound interest or what your CV should look like?’ asks Cape Town mom Pam Sneddon. Free of charge, she trains financially vulnerable South Africans to break free from the debt trap and build small businesses and sustainable futures | Photo: Leentjie du Preez

Pam (52) grew up in Cape Town’s southern suburbs, studied social science at the University of Cape Town and a postgrad in small enterprise consulting at Tsiba University. She worked in merchandise planning for many years before starting a non-profit company that supports individuals, organisations and small-business owners with their personal finances and business growth. She lives in Kirstenhof with husband Gregg, and they have two adult children

DURING MY CORPORATE CAREER, I became aware that many small retailers didn’t have the systems that big players had. Small-scale merchants might know their topline figures but many don’t understand the detail of their stock and sales, and this impacts their business decisions and performance. I realised I had skills that could help such retailers succeed. So, while my children were young, I started consulting to small business owners to fill this need.

Over time, I saw I could be doing this for a much greater purpose. I joined an NGO called The Clothing Bank [now called Taking Care of Business] which helps empower people through small-business opportunities, and worked as a mentor there while starting conversations with my husband Gregg, a certified financial planner. I asked him how I could help The Clothing Bank women with debt, budgeting and saving, and together we developed mentoring programmes that impacted more than 600 women a year.

Pam with children Josh and Amber and her husband Gregg, whom she asked for advice to help female entrepreneurs with debt and budgeting

Gregg and I both want to educate and empower people to make better financial decisions, so in 2017, I started The Fincoach Foundation, a philanthropic wing of Gregg’s financial coaching business.

Initially, we only offered free financial literacy workshops to non-profit organisations. Then, realising it’s not just people in non-profit programmes who need this information, I introduced a mentoring/training programme for entrepreneurs and small-business owners.

Pam explains a fine point to Xolelwa, a participant at her Entry to Entrepreneurship workshop in Cape Town’s Hout Bay | Photo: Leentjie du Preez

Entrepreneur-in-the-making Rebecca pays close attention at the same workshop | Photo: Leentjie du Preez

Personal financial literacy isn’t taught at school. Students might learn accounting or business finance or economics, but this has nothing to do with their personal finances. People don’t know what they don’t know. If you’ve never been taught about money, how would you know how to budget or make your money last for the whole month, how would you know the difference between simple and compound interest? Most people learn either from role models or the mistakes they make along the way.

‘role models are often non-existent’

In the townships, the role models are often non-existent. There’s a huge debt crisis and people don’t understand how to manage their debt, or even where to start saving.

Between and during moments of light relief, Pam enables existing and would-be entrepreneurs to create sustainable small businesses | Photos: Leentjie du Preez

Over the nine years I’ve worked in the non-profit sector, I’ve developed deep relationships with many organisations in the Western Cape, including Beautiful Gate, Church of the Holy Spirit, Hillsong Church, The Message Trust, New Day United and Westlake United Church Trust. I equip them with programmes to run that provide practical skills to break poverty cycles.

For many years, the Common Good Foundation had a work-readiness programme that was being used in the Western Cape. In 2022 they shut it down. I was really upset as it was one of the few programmes in South Africa open to both South Africans and non-South Africans. I proposed a new partnership between my foundation and Common Good, and together we rewrote the work-readiness programme that’s now called the Job Journey.

‘how do you know?’

Just as you don’t know what you don’t know about personal finance and business, it’s the same with work readiness. How do you know how to conduct yourself in an interview, what your CV should look like, or how you should show up in the workplace if nobody has ever had a conversation with you about it?

We relaunched the course in 2023 as a free nine-day work-readiness programme. What’s exciting about the Job Journey is that all manuals, facilitator guides, devotionals, marketing, posters, videos, etc, are included. It also has an added financial and entrepreneurship element. There’s no need for an NGO or church that partners with the Job Journey to spend any time creating any additional resources.

A Job Journey graduate gives a heartfelt hug to his course facilitator | Photo: Phinius Sebatsane

Above: Job Journey graduate Lindokuhle displays her certificate with pride. Below: Job Journey graduates and their trainers gather at Church of the Holy Spirit’s Life Centre in Kirstenhof | Photos: Tracey Ross

We now have over 50 Job Journey partners around South Africa, and train facilitators to run the course effectively. To date, over 3 000 people have completed the course.

The Job Journey includes a new CV app we’ve developed that simplifies the CV process with drop- down options so people don’t have to worry about spelling and grammar. Instead of paying R50 at an internet café every time for the typing and printing of a CV whose info they can’t store anywhere, they can update it online from anywhere and attach it to a job application email without paying a thing.

This has become a very exciting time for me! What I’ve realised is I need to create replicable programmes so that I can impact way more people than I can train in-person. My new vision is to ‘address the knowledge disparity in order to democratise access to opportunity’.

‘connect to opportunities’

I’ve created a course called Digital Connect to teach people the basics of computers and Google Drive so they can connect to people, learning and opportunities. I’m currently growing my entrepreneurship workshop into a replicable 12-week course, and am in the process of trialling a new online financial literacy course called The Money Genius.

We’re also testing our new Job Journey for high schools which could be taught as part of the Life Orientation curriculum.

Pam with colleague Mirriam Gurajena, a chemical engineer graduate, before a workshop. Together, they are developing a new entrepreneurship course that will be able to reach thousands more people because it is replicable. ‘With replicable programmes I can impact way more people than I can train in-person,’ says Pam | Photo: Leentjie du Preez

My purpose in all of this derives from God. I was raised in a Christian home and, although I rebelled at one stage, I came back, have a personal relationship with Jesus and couldn’t imagine life without him. He’s very much part of who I am and what drives me as I strive to make a long-lasting impact.

I love this part of a prayer called the Franciscan Blessing: May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace amongst all people…And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world. It spurs me on to expose people to options so they can make informed choices and reach their potential.’

Christiaan Barnard (22) works at NPO New Day United, where he supports various community programmes in Cape Town’s Manenberg as a media coordinator and after-school facilitator. He attended a FinCoach financial workshop in 2023

‘Before doing the workshop with Pam, I was very impulsive with money. I didn’t have financial goals or direction. When I heard about the workshop, it felt like a second chance. The workshop was a very good experience. We watched video scenarios, used worksheets and learnt about investing, debt and how to budget. Pam’s passionate about her work and is an amazing facilitator because she asks questions that help you understand where you are on your financial journey. I now know where my money’s going, how to allocate my funds properly, to pause before making a purchase and I have started to prioritise saving. I feel more in control of both my money and my life because I can plan for my future, think about things like investing, and have worked up to giving away 10% of my income to help others. My confidence has been boosted. I’d encourage anyone in the position I was in not to isolate themselves. Ask for help and take time to evaluate where you are. Then you can start making changes.’

Ntombozuko Qotsini (47) did a Job Journey course with Pam in 2024 at Beautiful Gate and set up a food business

‘Job Journey made me a new person. I didn’t know how to use a laptop, write a CV or use a smartphone. Now I do. I used to be someone who didn’t know how to handle myself, now I’m different. The highlight was coming to believe in myself. I thought I wouldn’t make it through the course but I did. Now I can communicate how I feel and try to understand a problem and I’ve learnt why not to borrow from a loan shark! I know who I am, where I’m coming from and can make something of my life. I say to others that they must believe in themselves. Be strong because you can make it through difficulties’ ♦