A YEAR OF PURPOSE, GROWTH, AND TRANSFORMATION: A 2025 REFLECTION By Simphiwe Shabane, AAF Ambassador

As we close 2025, I reflect with deep pride on what the Alphas and Alpharines Foundation (AAF) has achieved this year. Being an AAF Ambassador has allowed me to witness, first-hand, how vision, consistency, and partnerships translate into measurable impact across education, health, sport, research, and community development.

One of our most significant milestones in 2025 was the formal adoption of Young Poison Football Club. This partnership marked a deliberate integration of sport, youth development, health awareness, and mentorship. Through the adoption, AAF strengthened its holistic development approach by using football as a platform to promote discipline, teamwork, physical wellbeing, and positive life pathways for young people.

Sport also became a powerful tool for collaboration and inspiration through the high-profile match between the Wits University Soccer Team and Young Poison Football Club. This match symbolised the bridging of academic institutions and community-based sport, demonstrating how education and athletics can work together to motivate youth and foster social cohesion.

Education and science remained central to our work throughout the year. In 2025, AAF proudly participated in National Science Week, where we exhibited and delivered science and career engagement activities across Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng Provinces. A defining milestone during these exhibitions was the intentional inclusion of special needs schools for the first time in AAF's history, ensuring that learners living with disabilities were actively included in science engagement, career guidance, and innovation-focused programmes. This marked a critical step toward inclusive education and equitable access to opportunities.

A major strategic advancement in 2025 was the establishment of the AAF Research Division, strengthening the organisation's commitment to evidence-based programming and scientific contribution. Through this division, AAF formally entered the research space with a focus on nutrition, metabolic health, and community-centred scientific inquiry.

In alignment with this vision, AAF signed a formal collaboration agreement with ISIBA Organics, a partnership dedicated to the research, development, and evaluation of nutrition-based and nutraceutical alternative medicine solutions. This collaboration represents a meaningful step toward bridging traditional knowledge, scientific research, and community health innovation, with the aim of expanding access to safe, evidence-informed complementary medicine.

Health advocacy formed another cornerstone of our impact. In partnership with Makapa Run, AAF supported the Hypertension Awareness Run, an initiative focused on raising awareness about cardiovascular health, physical activity, and preventative lifestyle choices. This event demonstrated the importance of integrating movement, education, and community engagement in addressing non-communicable diseases at community level.

AAF also played an active role during the World AIDS Day Commemoration, where we engaged communities through awareness talks, wellness activities, and health education focused on HIV prevention, treatment adherence, nutrition, and stigma reduction. These engagements reaffirmed AAF's commitment to community-centred public health education.

2025 was a year of national and international recognition for AAF. The Foundation was honoured with the "Most Dedicated Youth Empowerment and Education Non-Profit Organisation in South Africa" Award, recognising AAF's sustained contribution to youth development, education access, science engagement, and community upliftment.

In the same year, we proudly celebrated leadership excellence when our Founder and Chief Executive Officer was awarded the "CEO of the Year 2025" Award, in recognition of visionary leadership, social innovation, and outstanding commitment to community impact. This achievement reflected not only individual leadership but also the strength, credibility, and integrity of the organisation as a whole.

None of these achievements would have been possible without the continued support of our partners and sponsors. We extend our sincere gratitude to Bashumi Instruments and Control Services (BICS) and NRF-SAASTA (National Research Foundation - South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement) for their unwavering support. Their investment enabled AAF to scale its programmes, expand into research, reach diverse communities, and deliver inclusive, evidence-informed impact.

Reflecting on 2025, I am reminded that AAF is more than an organisation. It is a movement grounded in service, collaboration, and purpose. Every programme delivered, every award received, every partnership formed, and every barrier removed represents lives touched and futures shaped.

As an AAF Ambassador, I am proud to be part of a Foundation that continues to expand access, create opportunity, and build impact that endures beyond a single year.

Together, we are shaping a future defined by access, opportunity, and purpose.

Alphas and Alpharines Foundation
2 Risana Avenue
Risana
Johannesburg
2197
South Africa
Email: info.aaf@octoberoctopus.co.za
WhatsApp: 069 408 9610

The Alphas and Alpharines Foundation (AAF) is a South African non-profit social enterprise established to advance youth empowerment through integrated programmes in education, science engagement, community health, sport, research, and digital innovation. The enterprise operates across Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and Gauteng Provinces, delivering career guidance, STEM outreach, inclusive science exhibitions including special needs schools, sport-for-development initiatives.

This release was published on openPR.