SmartStart owes its success over the last decade to leadership that understands the power of people. Grace Matlhape, our Chief Executive Officer, believes that early childhood development is more than policies and programmes. It is about tapping into the power of over 24 000 overlooked women as changemakers. Recognised by Chief Women Leaders for International Women’s Day as a leader driving real impact, Grace, along with the leadership of SmartStart’s implementing partners have, through their shared vision, transformed homes in South Africa’s low-income, underserved communities into learning hubs that reach 160 000 children weekly through 15 000 practitioners – proving that when leadership trust communities, both child outcomes and economic empowerment scale with minimal effort. Read the full story
24 November 2025
SmartStarters Unite events across all provinces brought together thousands of SmartStarters, parents, children, partners, ECD forums, traditional leaders, government stakeholders, and communities to honour 10 years of SmartStart transforming South Africa’s ECD landscape.
Nationwide celebrations, local stories
From East London to Durban, hundreds of awards celebrated outstanding SmartStarters and their clubs. SmartStarters shared moving testimonies of personal transformation – from humble beginning in their living rooms to community leadership – proving women closest to the challenge deliver its greatest solutions.
Strategic partnerships powered 10 events
Provincial SmartStarters Unite events were held in collaboration with:
- Eastern Cape – Khululeka and Siyakholwa Development Foundation
- Free State – Lesedi Educare Association
- Gauteng – Lima Rural development and Siyakholwa Development Foundation
- KwaZulu-Natal – Letcee, Project Preparation Trust (PPT) and Training and Resources in Early Education (TREE)
- Mpumalanga – Penreach
- Northern Cape – 3L
- Western and Southern Cape – ELRU and Little Seeds
- Limpopo and North West – Provincial SmartStart branches
Province-by-Province highlights
Gauteng: Men breaking ECD stereotypes
Orlando East, Soweto in front of 3 000 attendees, Moremane Derick (Atteridgeville) and Siyabonga Mndebele (Orange Farm) challenged male underrepresentation. “Caregiving isn’t women only work, they stated, calling for greater male recruitment to shift perceptions.
Free State: Grace Matlhape’s partnership vision
SmartStart CEO Grace Matlhape attributed the organisation’s decade-long success to collaborative partnerships while flagging that 1.3 million children still lack access. “ECD is everyone’s responsibility, not just government’s.”
Eastern Cape:
Tafara Shuro (Siyakholwa) honoured SmartStarters’ sacrifices reaching remote areas.Mary Venter (Siyakholwa celebrated sustainable futures via regional hubs.
Mpumalanga: ECD coordinator calls for unityThembi Nkadimeng (Nkangala ECD Forum) invited SmartStarters to join the forum saying, “If we stand for children, we need to unite”.
Northen Cape: Community growth
Councillor Arlene Bosman (Sol Plaatjie) said she was “looking forward to welcome more ECD practitioners to grow Northern Cape children.
Western Cape: The foundation is “love”
SmartStarters Maria Viewer (Mangaliso, George): “With love, anything is possible.” and Elsabe Speelman (Mandela Village), who sheltered children during eviction protests, “I became a light in dark times.”
KZN and Limpopo: Traditional leadership shows support
Ndlunkulu Mamohale Buthelezi highlighted the importance of cultural preservation in early learning, noting the role of indigenous language, storytelling, and singing in nurturing good citizenship among children.
Chief Humprey Magakula: “If we had ECD programmes like this in the last 30 years, we as a nation would have been much further.” He called for traditional, government and community partnerships for accelerated ECD access.
Over 15 000 SmartStarters operate in low-income areas where little to no early learning services are available. Using their homes and other community spaces, women (and some men) from these communities – with training and support – establish early learning enterprises to serve excluded children with dedication, understanding the profound impact on children, families and their communities.
5 July 2025
Over the last decade, SmartStart’s has achieved remarkable growth, evolving from a modest network of franchisees serving a few thousand children into a powerful national collective. Today, the organisation partners with 12 implementing organisations to empower over 15 000 practitioners, delivering quality early learning to more than 150 000 children every week across South Africa’s underserved communities.
A journey of scale and innovation
What began with four playgroups has become a pioneering force in early childhood development, reshaping the conversation around early learning as both a societal priority and economic necessity. SmartStart’s social franchise model taps into the strengths of local communities, training under-employed women to establish social enterprises in their homes and community spaces. This approach reaches children right where they are, proving that affordable, community-led solutions can deliver profound results without massive infrastructure investments. We have demonstrated resilience and innovation, adapting through challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and adjusting our model to reflect learning and to better position us for scale. Crucially, we have built strong partnerships with government, creating new opportunities to build systemic delivery solutions, and to dismantle the structural barriers that undervalue the assets of low-income communities.
Proven impact and child outcomes
At the heart of our approach is a deep respect for community wisdom. Women in townships and rural areas, often overlooked, now run sustainable early learning programmes with SmartStart’s training and support, fostering not just child development but also economic empowerment for families. Recent child outcomes evaluations underscore this success, revealing significant developmental gains for children in SmartStart programmes, alongside a substantial narrowing of the achievement gap between children from high- and low-income children.
Our vision for the next decade
Looking ahead, SmartStart aims to evolve into an open platform that strengthens the entire early learning ecosystem. By sharing our assets as public goods, we will maximise agency for practitioners, parents, and partners, extending our model across South Africa, and beyond. This shift from a closed network to a collaborative ecosystem catalyst and enabler promises even greater scale, ensuring that early learning becomes a cornerstone of national progress.
