My brilliant career: Buy-in, initiative and a desire to grow equal success

Tell me about Koa Academy?

Koa Academy is a high-engagement online school designed to provide an IEB-accredited education that truly prepares digital natives for the real world. We connect Koa’s learners to best-in-class global online learning resources, while focusing on high levels of socio-emotional learning and fostering a high-engagement school environment.

What led you to start Koa Academy?

My husband, Mark Anderson, is a passionate teacher and over the years we had many inspiring conversations about what to do about the frustrating shortfalls in traditional school education. My background was in public health and I had worked on developing and implementing online training programmes for remote health-care workers. Through this, I gained invaluable knowledge and insights into experiential and interactive learning methodologies supported by the latest technologies. The vision for Koa Academy developed out of wondering how online education could be designed to help children develop real-world skills that would be relevant and sought after when they were ready to join the workforce. So this was something Mark and I really wanted to do together. Then the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the uptake of online education in South Africa and it seemed to be the right time to put our vision into practice, so we launched Koa Academy in 2021.

How does your training and experience as a nurse help you in running Koa Academy?

My undergraduate degree was in nursing, which is very different from where I have ended up. However, I am so grateful for what I learned though my studies and work experience. There are some interesting ways that I am drawing on my nursing training and experience:

● Triaging in the emergency room has taught me to prioritise the competing needs of a growing business;

● Managing a packed ward has taught me organisation skills and prepared me to make quick decisions; and

● Working in public health has taught me about strategy and how to just make things work.

What I value about nursing, the work of delivering dedicated patient care, is that it builds your capacity to be focused on others, and this quality becomes an intrinsic part of who you are. I love that my roots are in a profession where you have a deep sense of knowing you are working towards something that is more than just about you.

Who would be the typical student at Koa Academy?

Online schooling used to be seen as an option for outliers, largely because it arose out of a sub-set of homeschooling. In traditional home education, the parent is primarily responsible for being their child's teacher. What's different in online schooling is that the school is responsible for the child's education, so what used to be seen as an alternative option is now recognised as mainstream for many families.

I don’t think there is necessarily such a thing as a “typical” online student as online schooling suits a wide range of kids. If we were to generalise about the type of learner that suits the online space, it would be those who have the age-appropriate responsibility to handle the added flexibility and individualisation that comes with online schooling.

What do you think makes you good at what you do?

The combination of traits I have that I believe helps Koa to grow is having vision and being strategically practical in putting systems in place, while upskilling others to take ownership. In this way I can continue to break ground and move the organisation forward. I love working with teams and providing space for our staff to grow in their strengths.

What is your go-to advice for young people at the start of their careers?

No matter where you have chosen to work, be fully engaged with what the company is doing and find ways to support its growth. Figure out the parts of the job that you are good at and what make you tick, then pursue opportunities in that sphere. Showing buy-in, initiative and a desire to grow will set you up well for success in any company.