African Solutions to African Problems

What African Solutions to African Problems does

African Solutions to African Problems (ASAP), founded in 2003, is a South African registered charitable trust (The ASAP Foundation Trust, IT3548/2004) headquartered in Cape Town with a field office in Matatiele, Eastern Cape. It operates registered affiliate entities in the United Kingdom (Charity No. 1153415) and the United States (501(c)(3) No. 364562653). The organisation applies an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) methodology, delivered through six-year intensive partnerships with Community Based Organisations (CBOs) led by rural women in villages near the Lesotho border. Its four core programmes cover orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) care and school youth support, community development and CBO capacity building, gender-based violence prevention and response, and food security and livelihoods through permaculture-based food gardens and social enterprise training.

ASAP's service architecture combines direct programme delivery (nutritious meals, psychosocial counselling, GBV survivor support, school and community care centre libraries, therapeutic arts, and documentation assistance) with CBO capacity building (bookkeeping, ECD, first aid, enterprise development, Non-Violent Communication training). The technology stack is deliberately low-tech, centred on the Stoplight Poverty M&E tool sourced via the Greenlight Movement, supplemented by WhatsApp digital support groups, Zoom for governance, and GivenGain/PayPal for donation processing. Impact measurement reports 18,000+ children reached since 2003 and 51,918 nutritious meals served to 341 OVC in a recent year, with multiple CBOs (Hillside, Sinikithemba, Nonkqubela, Reahasetjhaba, Silukhanyo) supported through field operations.

Revenue is generated entirely through donations and grants, with streams including individual donations (one-time and recurring monthly), corporate and foundation grants (First Rand Foundation, HCI Foundation, Forrester Family Trust, Mercury Phoenix Trust, Nussbaum Foundation, Ackerman/PnP, Capitec, Google), government lottery distributions (National Lotteries Commission, Community Chest), legacy gifts and bequests, and proceeds from the biennial London Lunch fundraising event. Donor-facing channels include websites for each jurisdiction, social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and high-profile earned media coverage in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Telegraph, Hello, and Tatler. Pricing for donors is structured as unit-level programme support ranging from £35 (school uniform and shoes) to £9,950 (full programme support for abuse survivors across six villages for one year). The 2023 iF Social Impact Prize represents the most significant external validation of programme quality.

Name

African Solutions to African Problems

Legal name

The ASAP Foundation Trust

Website

https://africansolutions.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

African Solutions to African Problems is a South African nonprofit that uses an asset-based community development approach to support orphans and vulnerable children, rural women caregivers, and food-insecure households in the Eastern Cape through six-year CBO partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Community Development Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Community Food Services (62421), Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Health, Health Promotion & Behavior Change (SBCC) (BPADAIAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Nutrition & Food Security (Global Health) NGOs (HLAJAKAH), Health Systems Strengthening & Global Health Technical Assistance (BPADAEAH), Maternal, Newborn, Child & Adolescent Health (MNCAH) NGOs (HLAJAKAG), Social & Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) for Nutrition (BPADAJAK)

Keywords

• Community development programmes
• Orphans and vulnerable children
• Gender based violence prevention
• Food security and livelihoods
• Asset based community development

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Primary revenue stream from individual donors, corporate sponsors, trust and foundation grants. Donors can give one-time or recurring monthly donations with optional programme designation.
2. Legacy Gifts and Planned Giving: Bequests and gifts in Wills, allowing donors to leave charitable legacies. UK charity number 1153415 enables tax-efficient legacy giving.
3. Corporate and Foundation Grants: Funding from corporate partners (First Rand Foundation, Ackerman/PnP, Capitec, Google), trust funds (Forrester Family Trust, HCI Foundation, Mercury Phoenix Trust), and government lottery distributions (National Lotteries Commission, Community Chest).
4. Special Events (The London Lunch): Biennial fundraising event in London that raises awareness and funds through patron contributions. High-profile social gathering attracting celebrities and supporters.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

ASAP facilitates multi-year community development partnerships with rural women-led Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, delivering nutrition, education support, psychosocial care, gender-based violence prevention, and permaculture-based food security services to orphans and vulnerable children. The model targets sustainable CBO independence through a typical six-year intensive engagement built on Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) methodology.

Product overview

African Solutions to African Problems (ASAP) is a nonprofit organization operating as a single integrated charity focused on community-driven development. The core offering consists of four interconnected programme areas: the OVC & School Youth Programme providing direct relief and support to orphans and vulnerable children; the Community Development Programme empowering women to establish and run Community Based Organisations; the Gender Based Violence Programme working to prevent and respond to GBV in rural communities; and the Food Security & Livelihoods Programme teaching permaculture and sustainable agriculture. Supporting these core programmes are ancillary services including school and community care centre libraries, permaculture training, and a three-year youth development initiative. All programmes utilize an Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) methodology, with a typical six-year partnership investment in each community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• OVC & School Youth Programme Direct relief programme providing nutritious meals, mattress and blanket donations, psychosocial screening, therapeutic arts, and after-school support to orphans and vulnerable children in rural Eastern Cape communities, delivered through funded and capacitated Community Based Organisations.
• Community Development Programme Six-year community development partnership that empowers rural women to establish and run robust Community Based Organisations through training in bookkeeping, computer literacy, permaculture gardening, psychosocial skills, ECD, first aid, GBV response, nutritional training, and enterprise development.
• Gender Based Violence (GBV) Programme Programme to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in rural villages, working with tribal leaders to drive an end to violence, raising awareness, supporting survivors, increasing reporting and conviction rates, providing psychosocial support, and building community GBV networks.
• Food Security & Livelihoods Programme Programme that addresses food insecurity and malnutrition through permaculture-based household and community food gardens combined with financial literacy, social enterprise training, 36-month tapered mentorship, WhatsApp-based digital support groups, and horizontal learning events.
• Youth Development Programme Three-year cycle programme supporting school-going youth with personal development training, career guidance, tertiary education placement assistance, portfolio creation, and community campaign participation.
• School and Community Care Centre Libraries Installation of school and classroom libraries, plus a pilot community care centre library project for children aged 4-8, with books primarily in Xhosa and Sotho selected for early literacy and mother tongue reading.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 18,000 children have benefited from ASAP's interventions since inception in 2003
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and new partner.

• Greenlight MovementcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerASAP is a member of the Greenlight Movement and utilises the Stoplight Poverty M&E tool which boosts the ABCD approach with its metrics and methodology for impact measurement.
• Poverty StoplightcoreTechnology or IntegrationPartner organisation whose Stoplight Poverty M&E tool is used by ASAP for impact measurement, aligned with ABCD methodology.
• Green Yield Projectnew partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew partner receiving three-day Introduction to Permaculture Design course at Small Kasi. Training brings together new participants and experienced farmers.
• Silukhanyo Community Home-Based CarecoreOthersCBO partner receiving capacity building, financial support for groceries, and training since 2018. Now able to independently identify and respond to community needs.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cotlands: South African NGO focused on early childhood development and care for vulnerable children, including OVC. Comparable beneficiary focus and community-based delivery model, though Cotlands emphasises ECD centre-based care rather than ASAP's CBO partnership model.
• Afrika Tikkun: South African nonprofit running integrated OVC, education, health, and community development programmes in townships. Directly comparable to ASAP's integrated model serving vulnerable children and women-led community structures, though operating in urban rather than rural contexts.
• NACOSA (Networking HIV/AIDS Community of Southern Africa): South African network working on HIV/AIDS, GBV, and community health with strong donor and government relationships. Comparable HIV/AIDS legacy focus, rural community delivery, and emphasis on capacity building of local organisations, though at significantly larger scale.
• Sonke Gender Justice: South African NGO working on GBV prevention, men's involvement, and rural community engagement. Comparable GBV programme design including tribal leader training and rural village mobilisation, though Sonke is more advocacy-focused and national in scope.

Emerging players

• FoodForward South Africa: South African food recovery and redistribution nonprofit addressing food insecurity. Comparable food security mission overlap with ASAP's permaculture and meal programmes, though FoodForward operates a logistics/distribution model rather than community-empowerment model.
• HIVSA (HIV/AIDS Counselling and Support Services): Smaller South African community-based HIV/AIDS and psychosocial support organisation with regional reach. Comparable beneficiary population and psychosocial support model to ASAP's OVC counselling and HIV/TB treatment access work.

Broad incumbents

• Save the Children South Africa: Global NGO affiliate with OVC, child protection, and community development programmes in South Africa. Comparable thematic focus but vastly larger budget, broader geographic reach, and more institutional funding access than ASAP.
• SOS Children's Villages South Africa: International NGO providing family-based care for orphaned and abandoned children in South Africa. Comparable OVC focus and HIV/AIDS legacy context, but delivers through residential family care rather than ASAP's CBO-empowerment model.
• World Vision South Africa: Large international NGO operating integrated child sponsorship, food security, and community development programmes across rural South Africa. Comparable rural Eastern Cape footprint and integrated programme stack, though at much larger scale and via sponsorship model.

Regional players

• Siyabhabha Trust: KwaZulu-Natal-based rural community development NGO serving OVC and vulnerable households in former HIV/AIDS hotspot communities. Directly comparable rural focus and ABCD-style community empowerment methodology in the same Eastern KZN/Eastern Cape geography where ASAP originated.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/AfricanSolutions
• Facebookfacebook.com/africansolutions
• Instagraminstagram.com/africansolutionstoafricanprob
• Xx.com/asap_africa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/afri-solutions

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about African Solutions to African Problems