DreamGirls Academy: Connecting Girls in South Africa to Economic Opportunities with Ezlyn Barends

<p>Meet <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ezlynbarends/" target="_blank">Ezlyn Olivia Barends</a>, the co-founder of <a href="https://www.dreamgirlsacademy.com/" target="_blank">DreamGirls Academ</a>y an organisation in South Africa, dedicated to  shifting girls and young women from a space where they are economically dependent to connecting them to economic opportunity, through mentoring and education.</p> <p>In the interview Ezelyn speaks about: </p> <ul><li>How a quarter life crisis led her to explore how she wanted to be of service and ultimately culminated in the idea for DreamGirls Academy</li><li>How she and her team came up with ways to open up revenue streams beyond grants to support their programs </li><li>Why they decided to go deep vs. wide with their program and how this decision is reflected in the results they get for the girls</li><li>And how they have designed a social franchise model to help scale they idea to other regions.</li></ul> <p>Ezlyn also shares her thoughts on what to do when you want to find your purpose and what her advice for young South African girls is.</p> <p>There is a lot of gold in this interview and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. </p> <p>And now without further ado, enter Ezlyn Barends. </p>