Kiara Ramklass
Kiara Ramklass is an exceptional candidate for the Forty under 40 Awards. As the founder and leader of the social enterprise, Marimba Jam, she has demonstrated outstanding leadership, entrepreneurship, and a deep commitment to uplifting communities in South Africa.
What sets Kiara apart is her genuine passion for promoting cultural understanding and bridging the socio-economic barriers that separate South African youth through the power of marimba music. Her visionary approach has lead Marimba Jam to positively impact over 1500 school-going youth in its programs since the first community project in 2012, that Kiara led as a Grade 11 student at Wynberg Girls’ High School (for which she was awarded the Amy Beihl “Spirit of Youth” Award). By fostering inclusivity and celebrating diversity, Kiara has led a powerful platform that brings people together, transcending socio-economic barriers.
Kiara’s unwavering commitment to her mission is matched by her strategic mindset and ability to execute with excellence. She has successfully led the growth of Marimba Jam into a dynamic organization, specialises in various services: Professional Performances, Education Programs, and Large-scale Events. Through her innovative initiatives, Kiara has showcased the rich cultural heritage of South Africa while empowering youth and creating employment opportunities.
With her notable accomplishments at a relatively young age, Kiara serves as an inspiring role model for aspiring entrepreneurs and leaders. She epitomizes the values of professional excellence, innovation, and community involvement that the Forty Under 40 Awards aim to recognize and celebrate.
Kiara’s exceptional leadership, entrepreneurship, and commitment to community service make her an outstanding candidate for the Forty Under 40 Awards. Her ability to inspire, engage diverse audiences, and create positive change sets her apart as a deserving nominee.
Kiara has led Marimba Jam to become a highly regarded music entertainment company, known for its outstanding performances and professionalism.
Under her leadership, Marimba Jam has expanded its client base and established a strong reputation in the industry, catering to a wide range of events and audiences.
Through Marimba Jam, Kiara has made a significant impact on underprivileged students by providing them with access to music education and cultural experiences.
Her efforts have helped improve the lives of these students, fostering their personal growth, self-confidence, and sense of belonging.
Kiara’s work with Marimba Jam has played a crucial role in promoting South African culture and heritage both nationally and internationally.
By showcasing the unique sounds and rhythms of marimba music, she has contributed to preserving and celebrating the country’s rich cultural identity.
Kiara’s initiatives have also created employment opportunities for talented musicians and performers, supporting the growth of the arts industry.
2012- AMY BIEHL SPIRIT OF YOUTH AWARD, Awarded to a high school learner creating a positive impact in the community, Recognized for launching Marimba Jam as a community action project while in high school
2018- NEWS24’s 100 YOUNG MANDELAS OF THE FUTURE, Recognized during Nelson Mandela’s centenary year as one of South Africa’s 100 Young Mandelas embodying the qualities of Leadership, Compassion, Creativity, Vision and Resilience.
2019- WESTERN CAPE ENTREPRENEURSHIP RECOGNITION AWARD (WCERA), Marimba Jam was named the Number One Youth- Owned Enterprise in the Western Cape at the annual WCERA ceremony.
2019- DICE Program Top 10 Finalist Winner Social Enterprise Academy, in-kind prize.
2020- Marimba Jam is awarded – Investec Startup School for Entrepreneurs R100 000 First Place Prize Funding Winners, 30/01/2020.
2020- First Place Pitch Competition Winners False Bay College DEDAT Cohort, 2020.
2021- Marimba Jam is named as ‘Billion Acts of Peace’ global award winners Nobel Peace Laureates PeaceJam Foundation,
2021- Marimba Jam is named a BASA Awards Finalist: Community Development Nominated in partnership with Investec CSI,
Community Involvement:
FIRST MARIMBA COMMUNITY PROJECT:
In 2011, as a grade 11 student wanting to make an active change to address this inequality in her community, Kiara launched a week-long community project that sparked the journey of Marimba Jam as we see it today. MARIMBA JAM started as a small community outreach project, facilitated by a phenomenal youth-development organisation called enke: Make Your Mark, who help high school students across South Africa start their very own social initiatives in their communities. The project consisted of a week-long marimba workshop that took place during the school holidays with a group of 10 girls from an under-resourced school, Zimasa Secondary School, in Langa, Cape Town. In 2012, while Kiara was in matric at Wynberg Girls’ High School, she was awarded the “Amy Biehl Spirit of Youth Award” in recognition of this project. Since then, MARIMBA JAM has grown to become a dynamic female-driven social enterprise striving to promote nation-building and social cohesion among the youth.
FROM PROJECT TO PART TIME JOB:
In 2014, during her first year at university, both Kiara’s parents lost their jobs at the same time and she started teaching school marimba bands as a part-time job to support herself. At one point, she was teaching up to 15 bands a week while still finding the time to complete a full-time degree.
In 2015, Kiara realized the need to share the load of teaching to keep up with the growing number of Marimba Bands at the schools she taught at. This signified the official start of the Marimba Jam School-Band program.
THE FIRST MARIMBA JAM FESTIVAL & SUSTAINABLE OUTREACH BAND
In 2016, together with her newly found team of Marimba Jam teachers and band members, they put on the first MARIMBA JAM FESTIVAL at Maynardville Open-Air Theatre to provide a platform where all 100 of their learners could perform. The festival served as a fundraising event so that they could initiate a sustainable outreach program with at least one group of students the following year. The aim of this program would be to provide weekly marimba band lessons at schools who do not have the means to afford these sorts of activities for their students. The following year (2017), the interest amongst schools continued rising, with an additional 100 learners auditioning at the start of 2017, including Marimba Jam’s very first outreach band from Chris Hani Arts and Culture School in Khayelitsha. This was the first marimba group offered to female students at this school. In 2018,
MARIMBA JAM (PTY) LTD was officially registered as a company, and together with her team, Kiara went on to break the World Record that same year for the title of “Largest Marimba Ensemble” (achieved by 241 females on National Women’s Day).
In 2019, MARIMBA JAM was selected to represent South Africa at the Social Enterprise World Forum, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. That same year, MARIMBA JAM was awarded first place in the “Investec Startup School for Entrepreneurs, and in 2020, was named the “Number 1 Youth-Owned Business” in the Western Cape Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards.
RISING STARS PROGRAM & ESTABLISHING THE NPO
In 2019, the outreach programme (Rising Stars Program) that was launched in 2017, grew into the established NPO, Marimba Jam Cares, as a means to reach greater communities and expand the outreach work and contribution to social development. Marimba Jam Cares NPO is built upon the ideology that music can act as a vehicle for social change, following our motto “Finding Harmony in Community”. The objective of the NPO organisation, according to our Constitution, is to provide free music education to underprivileged communities in the form of marimba and/or drumming workshops, as well as use African music to connect the youth of South Africa across the socio-economic barriers that separate them, thereby promoting nation-building amongst the youth.
Currently, the NPO runs two sustainable and continuing projects: The Rising Stars Program as well as the YOU FOR YOUTH Campaign. Both projects aim to uplift and empower under-resourced communities. Our team also runs various holiday workshops and community events outside of these two projects. Through Marimba Jam Cares, Kiara empowers young individuals by offering marimba music lessons, fostering their personal growth, and unlocking their potential. Since its establishment in 2017, the Rising Stars Program has positively impacted over 280 school youth from across 13 under-resourced schools in South Africa.
YOU FOR YOUTH CAMPAIGN:
The You For Youth Campaign was started in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Seeing how the pandemic left our most vulnerable communities devastated, Kiara led her team at Marimba Jam to start this initiative, with the help of Siyakhula (NPO).
In line with Marimba Jam’s motto, “Finding harmony in the community”, her team distributed care boxes to youth in need. Kiara led this campaign in an attempt to empower, educate and inspire the youth of South Africa, with an emphasis on providing our beneficiaries with art-supplies. Thanks to your monetary donations as well as other physical donations, Marimba Jam was able to bring a smile to 100 children’s faces, giving each of them access to goods such as coloring books, journals, khokis, art supplies, snacks, masks, sanitary pads, soap, lotion, games and more!
In 2021, Marimba jam continued the You For Youth Campaign by distributing our care boxes to child and youth care centres for girls aged 13-18 years old. The 2021 beneficiaries were YWISE, St Michael’s Youth and Childcare Centre, and Ons Plek. Each box contained feminine hygiene products, notebooks, cosmetic products,, toiletries etc.
In 2022, the campaign dedicated Youth Day to inspiring and learning from youth with disabilities. Marimba Jam partnered with the Chaeli Campaign and together with Chaeli Sports and Recreation we held African drumming and marimba workshops at the Bergvliet Sports Centre. The day was lots of fun as Marimba Jam shared their skills collaboratively and had a great time making music together. At the end of the day, our Jam Meisters had the treat of learning how to ballroom and Latin-American dance. This Youth Day was a testament to the amazing feats we can achieve when we work together as a community and we thank the Chaeli Campaign for partnering with us in such a special way.
Staying true to her founding ethos, Kiara has built a business model that supports the sustainability of Marimba Jam’s Outreach Programmes, which provide free marimba band classes and workshops to under-resourced schools and at-risk youth. The profits made through the services of Marimba Jam PTY (Ltd), as well as continued fundraising efforts of Marimba Jam Cares NPO, help to sustain this work.
RESPONDING TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC:
The impacts of Covid-19 on group gatherings and festivals led Kiara to re-imagine what the annual Marimba Jam Festival could be during the year 2020. Instead of a one day festival, she and her team re-imagined the festival as a 3-MONTH online event. This online event comprised of 2 programs executed concurrently over the 3 month period: Cultural Exchange and Saturday Sessions.
THE PROGRAMS:
The Cultural Exchange Program offered weekly 1-hour virtual sessions to students and other beneficiary groups. The sessions followed a unique program covering some of the fundamental South African Music elements present in traditional and popular music. Marimba Jam supports a number of non-paying schools through our internal Outreach Program. One of the barriers with this online festival was access to data. Marimba Jam ensured that its beneficiaries of this program had access to data in order to attend the weekly Cultural Exchange lessons.
The Saturday Spotlight sessions involved live 30-minute Instagram workshops and educational talks. These sessions covered new topics each week, and viewers had free and unlimited access to the live-stream via Instagram. Once the live sessions were completed, the videos were uploaded to Marimba Jam’s IGTV feed so anyone could access and view it in their own time. Kiara led her team to use these programs as a way to support other performing artists during this extremely tough financial time. Saturday Spotlight Sessions were a way for Marimba Jam to include other artists who would have been part of our physical festival.
CONTRIBUTING TO YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
As CEO of MARIMBA JAM, Kiara now employs over 20 part-time student teachers, recognising that youth unemployment in South Africa continues to be an important socioeconomic challenge. Kiara recognises that one of the contributing factors to youth unemployment, is that many entry-level jobs require skillsets and work-experience that many of our country’s youth do not have. By offering on-boarding training (as well as continued professional development once employed), and inviting past students to join the organisation as professional performers, and teachers, Kiara contributes to youth employment through Marimba Jam.
Kiara advocates for the arts and entertainment industry within professional organizations, highlighting its importance and advocating for support and recognition. Through her efforts, she strives to create a more favorable environment for artists and professionals in the industry, promoting its growth and sustainability.
Kiara Ramklass’s involvement in the community and professional organizations demonstrates her commitment to making a positive impact and difference in these areas. Through her initiatives, she empowers individuals, promotes cultural understanding, and contributes to the growth and development of the industries she is a part of. Her dedication and leadership serve as an inspiration to others, encouraging them to actively engage in their communities and professional spheres.
In addition to her remarkable work history and contributions to the community and professional organizations, there are notable personal attributes about Kiara Ramklass that set her apart:
Passion for Cultural Understanding:
Kiara’s passion for promoting cultural understanding through music is deeply rooted in her personal experiences and upbringing. Growing up in a diverse community, she witnessed firsthand the power of music in bridging gaps and fostering unity among people from different backgrounds.
This personal connection fuels her drive to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged students and create opportunities for cultural exchange.
Overcoming Adversity:
Kiara’s journey has not been without its challenges. She has faced personal and professional obstacles that have tested her resilience and determination, as seen in 2014, during her first year at university, both Kiara’s parents lost their jobs at the same time and she started teaching school marimba bands as a part-time job to support herself. At one point, she was teaching up to 15 bands a week while still finding the time to complete a full-time degree.
Despite these challenges, Kiara has persevered and used them as stepping stones to fuel her ambition and drive for success. Her ability to overcome adversity demonstrates her strength of character and resilience, making her an inspirational role model for others.
Passion for Community:
Kiara’s leadership style is characterized by her genuine care and support for the community.
Innovator and Risk-Taker:
Kiara is known for her innovative approach to showcasing South African culture and talent through MarimbaJam and other ventures. She is not afraid to take risks and push boundaries, constantly seeking new ways to create impact and bring her vision to life.
This entrepreneurial spirit and willingness to think outside the box make Kiara a standout candidate, as she continuously challenges the status quo and drives positive change. These notable attributes highlight Kiara’s passion, resilience, commitment to community, and innovative mindset, making her an exceptional candidate for the Forty Under 40 Awards.