Official Profile
Nokulunga Sweetness Shabalala
Founder & Chief Executive Officer — Sister EF Legacy of Purpose Foundation
South African founder, philanthropist and humanitarian; a human-rights and health-justice advocate; a strategist and analyst; and a writer, songwriter, storyteller and spoken-word creator. She creates and publishes publicly as IamSweetNokuOnPurpose.
Identity at a glance
Who this profile is about
- Full name
- Nokulunga Sweetness Shabalala
- Alternate name
- IamSweetNokuOnPurpose
- Country
- South Africa
- Role
- Founder and Chief Executive Officer
- Public roles
- Philanthropist, humanitarian, writer, storyteller, strategist
- Organisation
- Sister EF Legacy of Purpose Foundation
- Ecosystem
- EF Legacy
- Creator identity
- IamSweetNokuOnPurpose
- Official website
- eflegacy.org
- Press contact
- info@eflegacy.org
Nokulunga Sweetness Shabalala and IamSweetNokuOnPurpose refer to the same person. This page is the canonical reference for that identity.
Who she is
A builder of dignified systems
Nokulunga Sweetness Shabalala was born in South Africa and raised in Springs, on the East Rand in Gauteng. She is a philanthropist, humanitarian and entrepreneur whose work sits where service, strategy and storytelling meet.
She is a multidisciplinary strategist and systems thinker: someone who looks at a problem, maps the structures around it, and then builds the practical mechanism that answers it. That instinct shaped both the Sister EF Legacy of Purpose Foundation and the wider EF Legacy ecosystem of institution-building work.
Work and public-interest focus
Where the work is directed
Her public-interest focus covers human rights and health justice, human dignity, migration and justice, education support, community care and healing-centred programmes delivered through the Foundation.
She has professional experience in information technology and data analysis, and her education followed a Cambridge International pathway across IGCSE / O Level and AS / A Level, with subjects including Mathematics, English, Computer Studies, Biology, Accounting and sciences.
Her training includes occupational health and safety, first aid, and trauma support, supportive counselling and trauma containment. This is non-clinical support work; it is not registered psychology or counselling practice, and the Foundation refers people to qualified professionals where clinical care is needed.
She has also undertaken theology and Bible studies as part of her studies over the years.
Creative identity
IamSweetNokuOnPurpose
IamSweetNokuOnPurpose is her public and creative identity. Under that name she works as a writer, songwriter, spoken-word creator and digital creator, publishing music, writing, storytelling and public commentary.
Family and service influence
The people who shaped the work
Her mother, Sr. Elizabeth Funie Shabalala, was a professional nurse and nurse practitioner whose life of care set the standard for how the Foundation treats people: with dignity first, and without discarding anyone.
Her father worked in education as a school principal, and that influence shows in how the work is structured — patiently, and around learning.
Foundation origin
Five years of service before a name
For roughly five years the work existed as personal, self-funded service — quiet assistance given directly to people who needed it, long before it carried an institutional name.
The Sister EF Legacy of Purpose Foundation was formally registered in 2025, while her mother was still alive. Her mother died about five months after that registration. After her death, the public identity and the work evolved to preserve and amplify her legacy rather than to begin it.
Current focus
What she is building now
Her current focus is strengthening the Foundation's governance, evidence and safeguarding systems, developing the human dignity, migration and justice programme, and continuing the creative and public-commentary work published as IamSweetNokuOnPurpose.
Official profiles
Where to find her
Stay Connected
Connect with IamSweetNokuOnPurpose
The work does not live on one platform. Follow the conversations, music, reflections, videos and purpose-led work wherever you connect most.
For media
Press and interview enquiries
Verified biographies, roles and approved wording are available on the media page. Press enquiries may be sent to info@eflegacy.org.
Media & Press