Paul Bacher

ORTJET (South Africa)

Paul Bacher is the founder of ORTJET, an organization to enable business leaders and practitioners to provide mentorship to struggling small businesses in South Africa’s Jewish community. In 2015, he went on to found the National Mentorship Movement (NMM), which will extend that work throughout South Africa. The aim is to provide a sustainable nationwide mentorship programme across all sectors of the South African economy which, by 2020, will connect 100,000 active mentors to a million entrepreneurs in need of mentoring. With unemployment in South Africa at 36 per cent, job creation is a huge need. But apart from the economic benefits, Bacher believes that mentoring is transformative for mentors as well as those mentored, inspiring those who donate time and skills, promoting a culture of giving, breaking down barriers between people from different backgrounds, increasing social cohesion and, ultimately, building a stronger society. Follow him on Twitter @paulbacher.