Twenty eight-year-old Fikilie ‘Fix’ Moetsi’s story demonstrates how one person can make a difference to the lives of several others. Slowly, but surely.
Born in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, she was raised – the first four years of her life – by her grandparents, who led a modest life. Her parents were still studying and working abroad.
Her grandmother was a school teacher and after reluctantly retiring, started giving extra lessons for school children in the community. They were so popular it led to the opening of another school and Fix’s grandmother went on to teach for another 20 years.
Her grandparents were a constant source of inspiration.
“There was always a child in our home who my gran had taken in, and that taught us to share…I was told whenever there was a new child, ‘this is your cousin’!” she laughs.
After matriculating, Fix studied Film and Media for a year at the University of Cape Town. She entered a talent search competition for MTV Africa, which she won; thereafter she quit her studies to move to Johannesburg and focus on MTV Africa full-time.
After three years with the channel, she was approached by 5FM, a popular South African radio station.
She was with the station two years and while this experience proved invaluable, she felt she still wasn’t where she wanted to be, so took it upon herself to follow her true passion – art.
She did a course in small arts business at Columbia College in the United States but after a year, funds dried up and Fix had to make a plan to try stay in the country and fulfil her dream.
She scoured the scene for an opportunity and got lucky with a bursary to New York University to study social entrepreneurship. This sparked a deeper passion in Fix and she was reminded of how her grandparents worked to uplift their community.
After returning to South Africa, Fix decided she needed to understand her subject from a local perspective, so she pursued a course in social entrepreneurship at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg.
During this time, 5FM got wind that Fix was back and she turned her attention to what she already knew to help get the Fix Scholarship Foundation off the ground. The scholarship covers the cost of the GIBS social entrepreneurship course.
“I didn’t want people to see this as an ‘ag, shame’ business,” she says.
Since its founding in 2013, Fix’s Foundation has put six people through the course, with the tuition for the first year’s two entrants coming straight out of Fix’s pocket.
She currently plays at gigs and holds various fundraising events to support her initiative. She believes it doesn’t take much for someone like her to support individuals who have not had the opportunity to further themselves.
“Just be a friggin’ human being,” she says. That seems to be her abiding motto.