Founder, EBonoko Foundation

Emmanuel Bonoko believes that knowledge is power and the key to freedom. “Many of the world’s greatest business moguls, media moguls and other achievers use information as a powerful tool for feeding and nourishing their natural talents,” he says. It’s for this reason that the first project Bonoko’s non-governmental organisation the EBonoko Foundation launched was a book drive.

This isn’t a small-time book drive. Since 2012, Bonoko has collected all types of books, focusing on a range of subjects – motivational, spiritual, poetry, business, text books, dictionaries – and donated them to under-resourced schools, charities, libraries, prisons and community centres.

The total number of books collected to date is a whopping 12 000. Bonoko (24), is passionate about leadership, entrepreneurship and youth empowerment, and aims to make a lasting contribution in these fields. His foundation regularly hosts seminars in which young people are encouraged to pursue education, and are given career guidance and assistance in identifying areas that they are passionate about.

Bonoko’s mentorship programme focuses on grooming young people to make a significant contribution in their communities by taking them to leadership and business seminars, as well as networking conferences, where they are introduced to influential and accomplished leaders. Through the foundation, Bonoko also circulates information on available bursary programmes to schools that don’t always have access to this and helps their learners to apply for these bursaries. His hard work and commitment to these projects is already paying off – many of the young people his foundation has worked with have realised the value of education and have gone on to pursue tertiary education.

“The ultimate goal is to encourage young people to start their own sustainable and innovative programmes in order to transform society.”
— Fatima Asmal

Twitter: @emmanuelbonoko Website: ebonokofoundation.co.za