Rita Sumpton

Background

About Rita Sumpton

I am doing everything my career guidance tests advised not to. Although I did consider pursuing a career as a Federal Agent to decode human nature and understand their behaviour, to fight (the literal part was a problem) for justice and strategise how to catch the really good liers. I ended up studying BA Humanities - majoring in History, Political Science and Psychology. Better explained as the past, present and future behaviours of humans. During my final year at university, I co-founded my first company (on paper) and it was the beginning of a beautiful adventure. We established a tutoring agency as many others have done in the past, which evolved into an online listing site that was ahead of it's time for the South African market. During these exciting years, we developed an online-magazine-directory to introduce institutions to school leavers and students who left but still had no idea where to go. As the co-founder of a start-up, I learned how to be a Jack of all trades and master of some. My love affair with small business led to the commitment of teaching Business Studies and Management to high school learners. I also created two extra classes/subjects that was added to the school's offering. With this, I had the opportunity to study the behaviours of the generation that will follow us. I had the honour and privilege to facilitate the academic programs at Ajax Cape Town - Lambda Institute which included Pocket Pitch - an opportunity for students to pitch their business ideas to potential investors. As the world went into lockdown I moved into a Learning Designer position where I broaden my skills and gained experience in online higher education. Sometimes it takes a pandemic to force us to evaluate where we are, what we want to do and where are we heading.