As serial entrepreneur and CEO of LED Lighting SA, I like to use the skills learned and connections made through MasterChef for good cause.

When LLSA’s Social Committee organised a braai at the SA Children’s Home in Gardens, South Africa, a little boy ran up to me and grabbed my leg, saying “this is the best day of my life”. This made me want to do more. Because if a little boy’s experienced “the best day of his life” when we made him and his friends some boerewors rolls, what more could we do?

This one-liner inspired me to change the way I want to do business. Yes, we want to be successful and the best LED lighting designer and producer in the market, but we also want to be a company that does good and drives a culture of community and sharing.

And so the next step was to get Cape Town’s mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis involved. What a man! I first met Geordin at a private event organised for the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation South Africa held at the home of the founder of Lift Airlines, Gidon Novick. But that’s a blog post for another day.

Over the last few months I have gotten to know the mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis, and what a genuine soul he is. It’s been such a privilege to find someone who strongly believes he is in a position to make a difference, change things for the better and push as hard as he can to achieve this! It’s so inspiring.

Geordin Hill-Lewis is doing great work in Cape Town and always keen to get involved with charitable events. And so what started out as a joke, became a real event.

Mayor vs MasterChef

MasterChef vs Mayor Media Coverage

For a sneak peak into what went down, watch the video below as Newzroom Afika reporter Nasiphi Same reported.

The Charities that we raised funds for

The goal of the event was to raised for three charitable organisations:

Sisanda Fundaytion

• Common Good SA

• SA Children’s Home

  And it’s with massive gratitude in my heart that through auctions and direct donations made we, raised a whopping R267 740.

The Judges

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, restaurateur Bertus Basson,

The Auction

Alan Committie was our auctioneer, and he was fantastic! If you ever have a company auction, I strongly recommend you get in touch with you, he will have you both in stitches and reaching for your wallet. The event would not have been as big of a financial success if it wasn’t for Alan’s quick-on-his-feet pressuring us all to bid more! The prizes were donated by some generous partners:

• A KILN R Series Pizza Oven to the value of

• Veldskoen donated shoes

• 360 on 62 weekend getaway

Thanks Bertus Basson, Alan Committie and Geordin Hill-Lewis for joining me in my mad adventure to raise funds!

As we go into this new year, I encourage you all to do those little things that could make someone’s “best day of my life”.

About Shawn Godfrey

Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.

Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.

It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.

On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (6), Olivia (4) and Harvey (2).

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