Excel@Uni’s Full-Circle Moment at the SAB Foundation Awards
SAB FOUNDATION AWARDS
Lungelo Gumede, co-founder and CEO of Excel@Uni, recently stood on stage as the Master of Ceremonies for the 2025 SAB Foundation Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards in Johannesburg. For Gumede and the Excel@Uni team, this was more than just an honor, it was a heartwarming full-circle moment. The SAB Foundation was one of the first organizations to believe in Excel@Uni’s vision, having named the startup a finalist in its 2017 Social Innovation Awards. Eight years later, seeing Excel@Uni’s CEO hosting the very event where it all began felt like a powerful testament to how far the journey has come.
In 2017, Excel@Uni was a fledgling social enterprise with a bold idea, to ensure that bursary-funded students not only access higher education but also succeed all the way through graduation. That year, the SAB Foundation recognized Excel@Uni’s potential and provided critical early support by selecting it as a Social Innovation Awards finalist. This early validation, essentially one of Excel@Uni’s first “investors” in the form of grant funding and mentorship, sparked momentum for the young company. “To return as the MC of the awards in 2025 was truly special, it felt like coming home.”
Gumede’s personal story is intertwined with Excel@Uni’s mission. As a student, he nearly dropped out of university after losing his scholarship due to unmet requirements. That challenging experience planted the seed for Excel@Uni. Together with co-founder Ludwick Marishane, Gumede envisioned a solution that would go beyond just funding tuition, one that would holistically support students so that no one falls through the cracks.
Excel@Uni was born from this vision, and over the years it has grown into one of South Africa’s leading bursary and scholarship management companies. The company leverages technology to connect bursary management and student support in a way that benefits both students and funders.
WINNERS OF THE 2025 SAB FOUNDATION SOCIAL INNOVATION & DISABILITY EMPOWERMENT AWARDS CELEBRATE
Winners of the 2025 SAB Foundation Social Innovation & Disability Empowerment Awards celebrate on stage in Johannesburg, where Excel@Uni CEO Lungelo Gumede served as MC.
The SAB Foundation Awards have long been a beacon for social innovation in South Africa, and the 2025 ceremony was no exception. The night honoured game-changing solutions addressing social and economic challenges in sustainable ways. Top accolades went to initiatives like White Cane, a venture by Blind SA producing affordable, locally made white canes for the visually impaired, and SUM1 Investments, which empowers township and rural businesses through collective stokvel savings citizen.co.za. In total, over R18.5 million in grant funding was distributed to this year’s winners, alongside mentorship and training opportunities. The atmosphere was electric with hope and possibility as entrepreneurs shared how their ideas are changing lives across South Africa.
Excel@Uni’s evolution since its 2017 award nod has been remarkable. Today, Excel@Uni is a comprehensive bursary management solutions provider that partners with corporations, foundations, and government programs to maximize the impact of their education investments. In essence, Excel@Uni offers an end-to-end scholarship management platform, a cloud-based system that streamlines everything from scholarship applications to student tracking and reporting. This platform acts as a bursary management and distribution system, ensuring that every Rand of scholarship funding is administered efficiently and transparently.
What truly sets Excel@Uni apart is its focus on student success. The company understands that funding alone is not enough to guarantee graduation. That’s why Excel@Uni integrates robust student support services into its model. The team provides students with mentoring, private tutoring, skills development training, and work readiness workshops as part of its programmes. This means bursary recipients aren’t left to navigate university life alone. They receive personal guidance, academic support, and career preparation at every step. By offering these student mentorship programmes and career readiness interventions alongside financial aid, Excel@Uni addresses the holistic needs of students.
Equally important, Excel@Uni’s platform simplifies life for the funders, the companies or donors behind bursary schemes. It handles bursary scheme management tasks such as application processing, eligibility verification, and bursary recipient monitoring with ease. Funders can outsource the heavy lifting of scholarship administration to Excel@Uni’s expert team, freeing up their time while ensuring professional oversight of their education grants. Through detailed bursary reporting and analytics, Excel@Uni keeps donors informed about student progress and outcomes, demonstrating the return on investment in clear terms. These reporting tools also help companies meet their compliance and impact goals, for example, aligning with BBBEE skills development targets by investing in education. In short, Excel@Uni has become an effective bursary management solution partner for organizations that want to change lives through education
LOOKING AHEAD
As we look ahead, Excel@Uni will continue to be a champion for student success and a trusted partner in bursary management. With each new scholar supported and each graduation cap in the air, we are reminded that when opportunity meets support, incredible things happen. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get to stand on a stage years later and witness the next wave of dreamers take flight, a reward that truly comes full circle.
Congratulations to all the 2025 award winners and finalists, and thank you to the SAB Foundation for inspiring us to keep making a difference!
