Meet The Founder

“Cognitive Paths flows out of my innate passion for entrepreneurship, community development, and supporting young people. In retrospect, the vision came about through a course of no small events in my life which I consider as stepping stones. It is my privilege to share my story and our team accomplishments in this report.

I had decided to seek new opportunities in the U.K. in my earnest desire to progress, learn and to develop. Prior to coming to the UK, I was a student at the University of South Africa, Practical School of Philosophy and the Kara Institute. I worked as a telesales representative and a primary school sports coach in between my academic and personal development lessons. I felt I was stagnating and not progressing at work, so I took on more responsibilities in training new staff to improve their sales target and increase the level of competitiveness, meanwhile I focused
on improving the athletic performance of young people through sports. Once I had saved up sufficient funds and seen the school sports achievement improve, I relocated to the U.K. Upon my arrival on British soil, I faced unprecedented challenges. I struggled to obtain decent work and could not decipher the accents of the land. I attempted factory work in the evenings and gradually looked for sales roles which would allow me to travel and thereby learn more about the U.K. My passion for people allowed me to be mentored, to be coached, and to be inspired by sales and people-management gurus. This shaped my experiences and aspirations as I set up offices in various locations in the U.K, from training sales representatives to managing large teams for residential and telephone campaigns. Unfortunately, after my visa expired, I felt terrified to seek support. I became ‘undocumented’. This vulnerable and uncertain period of my life brought about new challenges, and a new learning curve with fresh perspectives. Eventually, I grew in confidence and managed to resolve my immigration status, and the rest is history.

I was spurred to initiate Cognitive Paths with the purpose of establishing a common ground between people, community organisations, and businesses. My work is consistently about inspiring positive thinking in young people, marginalised communities and entrepreneurs. I am so proud of what we have achieved so far through the projects we’ve run and been involved in, and I’m excited to share the impact we’ve had over the last few years.”

Sibusiso Tshabalala, Director and Founder of Cognitive Paths