“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely, but rather to skid in sideways, champagne in the one hand, strawberries in the other and screaming – whoo-hoo – that was FUN!” With passion for education and a drive to get people to succeed in their lives, the journey of Metro Minds started here, founded by Juliette Fourie.
In October 2006, Metro Minds served their first client. They are serving this same client today. With R 15 000 in the bank, they started with the vision of EDUCATION TODAY. EXCELLENCE TOMORROW.
The fun started immediately. Back in 2007, their innovation for simulation already took a stand. Utilising gamification as learning tools made for memorable experiences – then and now!
In 2008, Metro Minds achieved accreditation with the Transport Seta and Service Seta, paving the way to comply with skills development targets and compliance. This allowed them to colour inside the lines when required while still exploring new possibilities and creativity with customised learning solutions - they are officially on the map as an accredited training provider.
2010 marked a celebratory year for them– they moved from a home office to their own office space with comfy training rooms. Growth comes with more responsibility – and so they took it on! Expanding their offering on a national basis enables them to deliver services in South Africa’s main centres. To guide them, they created their five values as their compass and direction. Family, excellence, integrity, passion and funovative.
Key personnel joined the business to share in the Metro Minds Magic to grow the team even more. And just like that they turned five years young. In 2011 they achieved another milestone by becoming accredited with the International Chamber of Commerce in educating international stakeholders on the new Incoterms 2010.
Moving onto 2012, their expertise and offerings were showcased at the International Saaff congress in Cape Town. Collaborations continued with the likes of the dtic and Seda Export initiatives.
Call it the seven-year itch, call it refreshing, call it what you like, 2013 was the year they were RE – everything. Rebranded to a fresh logo, redoing our headquarters and moving into a brand-new space, reframing and going global by becoming a study centre of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply. How refreshing this was.
2014 emphasised the boss’s passion for people and development when she won the Leadership Boss of the Year, SA. She was interviewed by Gareth Cliff, made front-page news, and continued the winning streak by signing an MOU with the remarkable Da Vinci Institute as Faculty Associate.
In 2015, Metro Minds continued achieving excellence, winning the runner-up award for Innovation in People at the TT100 awards, as well as a recognition award for the work done as the Sales Faculty for the Higher Certificate in Management and Innovation, specialising in sales and customer management.
The company graduated a few hundred competent learners and successfully bridged the first group of learners into the workplace with the Wise Minds Bridging Program.
2016 was a momentous year when they turned 10 years old and also changed shareholding structure to achieve BBBEE level 2 status. So momentous that a song was written for them by Jacques de Villiers – leaving behind a legacy. The sky is not the limit, and they are proud to say that they are living their purpose of building futures with fun and quality education – with excellence as their promise.
The launch of their education trust, Changing Minds, started changing lives immediately. With various socio-economic development initiatives, the trust has become a vehicle for assisting education support, growth and fighting unemployment. Using fun, fund-raisers to start the ball rolling, they were able to feed a few and dress another couple with community projects. Beyond changing lives, they started saving lives by hosting blood drives in collaboration with the South African National Blood Services.
In the same year of 2017, Metro Minds completed their first simulated learnership, with a 100% competency rate and a 96% absorption rate into the workforce.
As 2018 approached, the company theme was baptised as HEAL. Not just looking after their clients but themselves. The rainbows appeared after the rain, and after a few setbacks, Metro Minds still managed to stand out as the winner at the SA Innovation League Awards and make the top 3 in the TT100 competition - this time for the work done on our Customs Act it Out Simulation programme. They hosted their first CEO awards, recognising all their clients who had contributed to education in their businesses.
With FAMILY being one of their values - as a family they started the year off on the right foot, with a team strategy session themed FIT! The hard work of staying fit paid off when achieving 3rd place for Sapics Education organisation award and 2nd place for facilitator of the year award. This year also saw the launch of our brand-new Career and Entrepreneurship Programme – Kickstart - ending off their journey with a magical showcase and self-made millionaire and entrepreneur Marnus Broodryk, leaving all the guests with great insights. Building on their current learner management system, they introduced their online platform called eMinds. This allowed learners to access their learning and assessment process online, with all activities and simulations included. Continuing with this fantastic process, Changing Minds sponsored five learners to attend the Young Logistics Initiative at the Fiata Congress in Cape Town, proudly graduating hundreds of competent learners across the country.
And then 2020 turned to 2021 without anyone realising it. The battle against this invisible war continues, and the trail it left behind will forever be captured in history. Metro Minds started a wide variety of webinars and connected to the world even more. Not did they just become stronger, but smarter. Metro Minds launched Smart Minds which is an interactive, impactful online learning platform with diverse topics, ranging from personal development, human skills and life skills to industry-specific hard skills. It’s affordable, easy, accessible and a whole lot of fun.
“So here we are! 15 years later. Ups and downs and so many great memories and unforgettable experiences. For every client, supplier, associate, competitor, learner, friend, colleague and family who have crossed our paths in the last 15 years – we cannot thank you enough. We are truly blessed. You helped us colour in our pages and walked with us on this journey! To the most magical, rock star team in the world, I commend you for your hard work and commitment at Metro Minds. You are worth more than gold and we have proven we can fight a war together! Please celebrate with us and cheer on to the next 15 years of building futures with fun and quality education.
