The GoSmartHR Blog

GoSmartHR sharing the love with Heartfelt Bakery

GoSmartHR has supported Heartfelt (www.theheartfeltproject.com), in Makapanstad, North West Province, over a number of years. The story of heartfelt has a sad beginning, but it is this sad start that has led to the creation of an organisation with very positive goals. Its aim is to heal the hearts of people who don’t have the opportunities most of us have on a daily basis. And to fill hearts with hope.

We love the fact that Heartfelt is a job creation and skills development project and are privileged to be a part of this project.  So, when we saw the potential of a bakery as both an income generating enterprise, for those looking to uplift themselves, and an opportunity to improve the quality of bread sold in the community in which Heartfelt operates, we were keen to get involved there too.

Jimmy Andrews and Ginger Bester present micro-bakery workshops. Their dream is to teach people how simple it can be to start their own micro bakeries, whether to bake wholesome bread for their family or to supplement a current business venture.

Ginger, with a Master’s degree in Education, is passionate about the development of online and face-to-face learning programs and also assists schools & organisations to implement the Moodle online learning management system. Master baker, Jimmy Andrews is a 4th generation baker and the son of the founder of the famous Hatfield Bakery.

GoSmartHR worked with Jimmy and Ginger to purchase the equipment needed for the bakery to begin operations. This included an oven that bakes 15 loaves at a time, all preparation equipment, and some ingredients.

Jimmy and Ginger presented an introductory workshop to trainee bakers in December 2020. From this session, a baker with great potential to run this bakery emerged, Mr. Kleinboy Mampane.

To supplement this training, taking into account Covid restrictions, we produced a training video in collaboration with Heartfelt Foundation. This allows Kleinboy to practice skills learnt with the support of the video training as well as to teach the baking method to others.

Of course, this would not have happened without the efforts of the wonderful Jo-Anne Hay, Founder of Human Nature Consulting.  Jo-Anne believes that “with the right team and network it is possible to make a meaningful contribution.”

We look forward to seeing the bakery thrive in the next few years, not only providing sustenance to the community, but also bringing new bakers to the fold and giving purpose to more and more people.

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