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13 Christin & Dan Olofsson | DANIR 2023

“The first thing I thought was that we need to start “Christin and I both had the privilege of meeting
an orphanage for all the orphans, but that’s not how Nelson Mandela once and hearing this icon say that
they think there; relatives take care of each other’s he very much appreciated our work in South Africa
children. So, no orphanages were established. But – it was very encouraging,” says Dan about being
then we thought that maybe we should start working praised by someone who truly knows what commit-
in schools, because you need to start at a very young ment means.
age for it to produce results. And that’s how Star for
Life was created,” says Christin proudly. “I’ve made a lot of investments in my life,”
continues Dan. “Some good and some bad. But my
More than 90% of the staff at Thanda Safari
come from the surrounding villages. And they have
received all the requisite training and education to
run a five-star lodge on-site.

“They didn’t attend a culinary school in Switzer-
land, and they may not know all the precise technical
details, but this is more than compensated for by
the fact that they have such a positive commitment

“ I’ve made a lot of investments in
my life, some good and some bad.
But my best investment has been
Star for Life.”

Christin and Dan visiting one of Star for Life’s partner schools in South Africa.

– and the guests notice that,” says Dan about how best investment has been Star for Life. We’ve never
the lodge not only creates jobs in the region but also gotten a cent back. But the ‘total return on invest-
trains positive and service-oriented employees. ment’ has been the best if you take all the factors
into account.”
It has made a difference to the villages, and the
standard of living and health is definitely better than THE IDEA OF A MORE ACCESSIBLE
it was 17 years ago. But the rural areas are still much LABOUR MARKET
poorer and more deprived than in the metropolitan There are also local examples of the social responsi-
areas around Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town. bility shouldered by the group and by the Olofsson
family. At home in Malmö, they saw how exclusion
The work done by Star for Life has made a dif- was growing and that there was a need to make the
ference for hundreds of thousands of South African labour market more accessible to foreign-born people.
children. And you can tell that both Christin and Dan
are proud of the results.