Taddy Blecher, once described by The Economist as a Harry Potter lookalike, is creating a bit of magic of his own in Joburg’s rundown inner city.
The former actuary was once tempted to move to the US, but after an epiphany he decided to stay and teach — in a somewhat unconventional way. Today, inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, he uses transcendental meditation to help poor South Africans access quality education.
His Maharishi Invincibility Institute is a nonprofit “education town” in the heart of the Joburg CBD that helps young people from poor backgrounds navigate an uneven path. He says only quality education can help South Africa build a successful future.
As many businesses fled the decaying inner city, Blecher embraced it as the most accessible place for young people to commute to. He looked at more than 15,000 “education towns” in developed and developing countries and found that economic regeneration can happen around stable, large and growing education institutions. “While we don’t see big business necessarily coming back to the CBD, building an education town will definitely transform the future of the city,” he says.
Building an education town will definitely transform the future of the city
— Taddy Blecher
About 24,000 people have been educated or are studying through the institute. Careers have been launched in a range of sectors, including banking and technology. Many graduates have found jobs in leading companies or started their own businesses. Blecher says their combined starting salaries top R2bn a year and estimates that graduates will conservatively earn more than R59bn combined over their working careers.
Blecher also says the CBD can be turned around by working with Jozi My Jozi, a coalition of big business, academia and civil society. He says his concept of education towns also has cultural and economic longevity. As an example, he cites Cambridge University, which has only 12,500 undergraduates but contributes £30bn a year to the UK economy, employs 86,000 people and returns £11.70 for every £1 invested.
“We believe getting to this sort of scale is possible,” says Blecher. The institute has 2,700 students and staff, with the goal of reaching 5,000 within two to three years.
Last year, the institute expanded to 45 Main Street, a building donated by Anglo American, which can accommodate another 3,000 students. Blecher says if the institute and other education institutions in the CBD work together, they could support 100,000 students. This includes the 94,000 at nearby Wits University and the University of Joburg, which would make it the largest education cluster in Africa.
Blecher started with Cida City Campus, an inexpensive college that he co-founded in 1999 in downtown Joburg. With few resources, he was innovative, teaching typing skills using photocopies of keyboards. Investec supplied its buildings in the CBD and he got donations from companies and wealthy individuals, among them JPMorgan, Dell, Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson.
His emphasis on transcendental meditation stirred some controversy at Cida when some students objected, so he established the Maharishi Institute in 2007, which uses consciousness-based education and transcendental meditation. The Reimagining Higher Education Report, published by Stanford University, describes the institute as one of the 12 most innovative educational institutions in the world.
A former colleague says Blecher is a visionary with charisma, who sees possibility rather than reality, and sells the possibility as if it’s a reality.
Blecher says his methods develop students’ potential — academically and personally. All students at the institute are trained in transcendental meditation, which is used to reduce stress, improve mental clarity and promote holistic development. It suggests that the development of human consciousness is central to learning and personal growth.
Those who have worked closely with Blecher describe him as positive, a “glass-half-full” person, effervescent and smart. “He’s humble but very brilliant, very strategic and can find his way ... I think he visually sees the big picture. He’s so clear with his ideas and nothing will get in his way,” says a former colleague at Cida.
Blecher once worked for the consulting group Monitor and was on the verge of moving to the US, but chose instead to stay in South Africa to pursue education and employment opportunities for disadvantaged young people. He has won awards from the World Economic Forum and more than 30 other accolades for education innovation and social entrepreneurship. Blecher has also been honoured with the Skoll Prize, an annual award presented by the Skoll Foundation, a private philanthropic organisation based in Palo Alto, California. The prize is awarded to social innovators and organisations whose work targets the root causes of pressing global issues and drives social change.
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