Meet Shannon McLaughlin, founder of Ubuntu Baba, the company that has recently been in the news for its successful ‘David-vs-Goliath’ battle with Woolworths. Her quest to design the perfect baby carrier for her son has translated into a business that ships to every corner of South Africa and around the world.

Shannon Mclaughlin had a beautiful vision of what her life, as a new mom, would look like. However, after her son was born in 2014 she came face to face with reality – those first 12 weeks were far from her dream of baby bliss. If her little boy was not in her arms constantly, there were tears – and an equal amount of those tears were her own.

“We’d tried all sorts of colic cures and ways to calm him, but still he struggled to settle. Getting him to sleep was incredibly trying and he seldom slept for more than 45 minutes. I was desperate. So was he. Thankfully a friend came over one day and gifted me a stretchy wrap and that’s how I discovered the magic of babywearing.”

In no time her child went from snatches of sleep to 3-hour snoozes and it took at most 10 minutes to “get him down”.  Shannon could now take relaxing afternoon strolls on the beach, meet up with friends, enjoy early dinners out and, most importantly, she could get on with her work while her baby slept, calm and content, on her chest. Both were so much happier.

As her son grew, Shannon began the task of finding the perfect baby carrier – something just as soft and comfy as her wrap, but strong enough to support him. After purchasing six different baby carriers and struggling in one way or another with all of them, she set out to design and make her own with help from her dad (who’d been in the backpack-manufacturing business) and her mom (who’d been a fashion designer).

“My goal was to create an easy-to-use, breathable and comfortable carrier with a supportive waistband that was gentle on C-section healing. I wanted it to be adjustable so it didn’t have to be replaced too often as my baby grew,” she says.

Using the finished article made Shannon aware of the addedbenefitsfor both babies and moms. The interest she received from other mothers made it clear that what had started out as an answer to a personal need could become a fully-fledged business.

Shannon grew up in South Africa where she witnessed African Mothers wrapping their babies on their backs from a very young age and so she wanted an African name for her business. In tribute to these original babywearing Moms, Shannon chose “Ubuntu Baba” as the name of her new company. “The explanation of ‘Ubuntu’ – ‘I am because you are’ – evokes so well the mother-child bond, as well as the transition into motherhood and the support and comfort we receive from other moms,” she says.

Four years ago Shannon started out with just one machinist; today Ubuntu Baba employs six machinists and six in the management team. The carriers are shipped worldwide, from the most rural areas in South Africa to major cities inAustralia, Dubai, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Amsterdam, France, and the United States.

 Join Ubuntu Baba for their inspiring 4^th trimesterchats. Every second Friday she invites moms to join them for a relevant talk on motherhood, a muffin, coffee and a massage.

“It’s such a lovely space for new Moms to connect and just feel supported on their journey. It’s something I really missed out on as a new mom so it feels great that I am able to now offer that to other moms.” – McLaughlin

More on Ubuntu Baba

A leading babywearing brand that knowsbecoming a mother is the start of a beautiful yet challenging journey. Ubuntu Baba is there to help you step out into the world again with confidence, freedom and style.

In 2018, less than half of South African learners chose to study pure maths for matric, and of those, only 37% passed with 40% or more. Despite much emphasis being placed on mathematics over the last few years, the recent matric results show that the majority of South Africa’s learners have significant gaps in understanding, or opt for mathematical literacy as a subject, which limits access to higher-level careers in a digital, knowledge economy.

And, in a real-life demonstration of compounding interest, each year that goes by the conceptual gaps grow as learners move up grades. So, gaps in understanding in early school years widen considerably as the learner progresses through high school, to the point that they simply can’t engage with the curriculum anymore. Research[i]shows that these gaps exist along socioeconomic lines, with the poorest 60% of schools having persistent acquired learning deficits in mathematics of, on average, four grade levels by the time they reach the end of grade 9.

This is the challenge that Reflective Learning, a Cape Town-based edtech startup, has set out to tackle with its diagnostic and targeted catch-up based approach. By identifying gaps in learning that originated in earlier grades, and then addressing early concepts with a personalised, reflective learning approach, it is possible to catch-up the equivalent of six grades in one year[ii].

“Our aim is to increase opportunities to access mathematics, open doors to tertiary studies in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) fields and ignite a lifelong love for learning,” says Eugene Pelteret, Managing Director of Reflective Learning. “South Africa needs to tackle the challenge of learning gaps head on. The thousands of assessments we completed during our pilots showed us that some learners are functioning up to seven grades behind the grade they are in.”

“However, with the Reflective Learning approach, it is possible for learners already in high school to catch-up and excel in maths, if they are given the opportunity and are willing to put in the effort,” says Pelteret.

Since every learner’s deficits are unique, their subsequent learning needs to be personalised. Reflective Learning helps parents and teachers to pinpoint each child’s gaps in understanding and then fast-tracks catching up on their missed learning so that learners can engage fully in class.

How Reflective Learning started

In 2014, Tracey Butchart, a maths and science teacher with three decades’ experience, and now Reflective Learning’s director and education expert, was asked to monitor Uplands Outreach’s Saturday enrichment programme, called Learners for Excellence. Using the first iteration of Reflective Learning’s diagnostic approach, she helped grade 10 learners progress by between three and six grades within a year. Those learners went on to excel in their matric maths results and the majority went on to achieve in university, demonstrating the legacy of the intervention.

Butchart realised that it’s not too late for learners in grade 10 to both catch up and to excel at maths. Also, a personalised, metacognitive approach – where the learner is taught to think about how they learn and think — helps to accelerate learning by creating self-motivated, empowered learners that take ownership of their own education – ideally for the rest of their lives.

Excited by the potential of this educational approach, in 2015 Butchart teamed up with technology company Lightswitch Solutions to form Reflective Learning, and scale the learning approach. The first prototype of the online assessment tool was built in 2016, and has since been tested it in a range of environments, from urban to rural and townships, from desktops, to tablets and mobile phones. These pilots have included more than 3,500 learner assessments in around 25 schools, afterschool programmes and tutoring centres in urban and rural areas, as well as individual learners at home.

The diagnostic tool is available online for parents, teachers and large-scale education intervention projects wanting to measure their impact. It provides immediate results with personalised feedback for every learner. Also available is personalised catch-up material for high school learners that focuses on the numbers component of maths, and takes learners from wherever they are for each critical concept up to Grade 9 level.

In 2019 Reflective Learning will release further catch-up material focusing on fractions, as well as a natural science diagnostic tool. In addition, it will work with the Telkom Foundation in seven schools in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

How it works:

1. Diagnostics identify exactly where the gaps in learning are and how far back they go, measuring the mastery of foundational conceptual landmarks across seven threads of maths, benchmarked at three levels.
2. Personalised reflective journalstarget the gaps identified through the diagnostic while developing metacognitive skills for independent learning.
3. Re-assessments help to identify whether the learner has mastered each concept, as well as informing the next step in their learning.

More about Reflective Learning

Reflective Learningare experts in identifying gaps in learning acquired from early grades for targeted catch-up. By diagnosing conceptual understanding and addressing early concepts with a reflective approach, the programme has shown that it is possible to catch up the equivalent of six grades in a single year.

[i]Dr Nic Spaull & Janeli Kotze’s “Starting behind and staying behind in South Africa: the case of insurmountable learning deficits in mathematics”. See link.

[ii]Tracey Butchart, Craig Pournara, Patrick Barmby’s “Using a Diagnostic Assessment As Learning – Conceptual Thread Approach in Addressing Acquired Learning Deficits in Mathematics in South Africa”. See link.

Sophisticated bottled water harvested from the Stellenbosch air has been launched in the Cape Town market.

There are many bottled waters on the market; but water harvested from the air, is unique. Infinity Air Water is a new bottled water company whose source is the humidity in the air. This special condition makes the water perfectly pure, soft and alkaline (pH8).

Infinity started its first harvest of the soft Stellenbosch moisture in July 2018 and now the company is distributing still and sparkling Infinity Air Water to hotels, restaurants, wine farms and corporates in Cape Town. The company was founded by Jacques Lubbe (South African) and Viviana Alarcon (Chilean) who met while working overseas and have just settled in the Cape.

“The availability of clean drinking water is becoming more and more scarce, not only in our country but also worldwide. Yet we only need to consciously turn our gaze to the vast and infinite sky to witness the untapped potential of the humidity all around us. We choose to be part of the solution by using innovative technology to bring clean drinking water, effectively from thin air,” said Jacques Lubbe, Director of Infinity.

In this way, Infinity is preserving ground and municipal water resources for the use of the City of Cape Town. “Due to the fact that we are harvesting one million litres of new water per year we are in effect adding the same amount to the city’s water balance over that period”, added Jacques Lubbe.

High local demand and tourism

Clean drinking water availability and plastic pollution are two topics of high concern in our local and global community. The company addresses both with its Sustainability Model.

“Our clients from the hospitality industry can rely on our product”, said Lubbe. Infinity Air Water is harvested directly from the air and never makes contact with the ground keeping it free from elements that may alter its taste, resulting in a perfectly pure water.  Additionally, multiple safeguards used in the bottled water industry are taken to ensure the quality of the water, including nine stages of filtration and the use of UV light before being bottled.

The Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) contained in Infinity Air Water are below 20 mg/l, which means only the required minerals are present. With a pH of 8, this alkaline water is a powerful anti-oxidant, helping to boost the immune system and balance the pH in your body.

Infinity supports the reduction of plastic and single-use glass bottles. They only use glass and by returning glass bottles, Infinity’s clients not only pay just for refills but also are contributing to the reduction of at least 2 million plastic bottles per year. Additionally, distribution crates are made of wood, a reusable, repairable and renewable material.

Infinity Air Water and Aquacello, Importer, Distributor and full service centre for Atmospheric Water Generators, have recently entered into a Strategic Alliance Agreement to extend their capabilities to deliver value to clients and collectively focus their marketing, sales, research and development efforts.