A Somerset West investment firm has swung into fundraising action to upgrade technology at one of the region’s oldest schools, with a golf day that brought the local business community together in support of St Paul’s Primary School in Faure.

MH Capital hosted the Ubuntu Golf Day at Erinvale Golf Club on Friday (5 June), where golfers raised funds for the school which has served the Faure community for more than 150 years since its founding as a farm school in 1867.

School principal Antonia du Toit, who joined the school in 2022, said St Paul’s would have closed following the establishment of False Bay Primary School had the community not rallied to keep it alive. The school currently serves 133 learners.

It is this community spirit that drew in the Hugo family. The connection began when Jeanne and Lise-Marie, daughters of MH Capital founder Marius Hugo, wanted to make a difference in children’s lives. The siblings launched an ecobrick initiative in 2020, collecting non-recyclable plastic from community members and having it converted into ecobricks by local women.

The project was later handed over to a local organisation, which has since produced more than 5 000 ecobricks and built five structures in the community.

Eager to do more, Jeanne started a weekly sports programme at St Paul’s.

Wanting to go further still, and inspired by the annual golf days her parents hosted during her childhood, she approached her father, Marius – who founded MH Capital in 2019 with the goal of sharing insights and working with entrepreneurs to grow and scale meaningful businesses.

Together the father-and-daughter duo established the Ubuntu Golf Day.

“For me, the golf day represents potential. I have always felt that South African youth have the power to change the entire country,” says Jeanne.

With support from generous sponsors Drs Hugo, Bryer and Associates, Baker Tilly Greenwoods Capital, Red and White Corp, Table Mountain Cable Car, Cape Wheel, Cape Town Aquarium, Meerlust, Peter Falke, Compagniesdrift, Vilafonte, Mount Babylon, Seven Sisters, Post House, Vergelegen, Vergenoegd Löw, Manzi Water and other companies the day raised funds to upgrade technology at the school.

“It was a successful day and the learners thoroughly enjoyed themselves,” a proud Du Toit relates.

The golf day marks another chapter in the Hugo family’s relationship with St Paul’s, as they continue working to ensure the learners are equipped for the digital age.