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Your Data

Your data, explained simply.

Last updated: May 2026

1. What We Know About You

When you use Vela via WhatsApp, here is exactly what we store — and what we don't.

What we store

  • A fingerprint of your phone number — not the number itself. We run a one-way mathematical process on your number so we can recognise if you return, but we cannot recover the original number from what we store.
  • Your province — to check which programmes and trades routes are available near you.
  • Your subjects and marks — to calculate your APS score and check which programmes you meet the requirements for.
  • Your answers to our 7 interest questions — used to match you to routes that suit your natural strengths. These are stored as coded responses, not the text of your answers.
  • Your answers to 4 financial questions — used to work out which funding you may qualify for. The result (a funding band) is stored, not your individual answers.
  • Your consent record — the date and time you agreed to use Vela. This is a legal requirement.

What we never store

  • Your name
  • Your ID number
  • Your plain phone number
  • The text of your WhatsApp messages
  • Your exact household income

2. Why We Need It

Every piece of information we ask for has a specific job:

  • Province → checks which university campuses and trade routes are in your area
  • Subjects and marks → calculates your APS and checks if you meet each programme's requirements
  • Interest questions → ranks which routes best match your natural strengths
  • Financial questions → matches you to bursaries and funding you may qualify for

We do not collect information to advertise to you, sell to companies, or build a marketing profile.

3. How Long We Keep It

Your guidance profile stays active while you're using Vela, and for two years after your last active season. This means if you return in a later year, we can show you how your situation has changed.

After two years of no activity, we remove your identifying information and keep only anonymised data (we cannot link it back to you) for improving the product.

If you reply STOP at any point in WhatsApp, we will not contact you again. Your data will be deleted within 24 hours of that request, except for the consent record which we are required to keep for legal reasons.

4. Who Can See Your Data

Very few people or systems:

  • The Vela matching engine — the software that builds your action plan. It runs automatically and does not involve a human reading your individual answers.
  • Vela founders and technical staff — only in the event of a technical problem, and only with strict controls in place. We never access individual learner data for curiosity or commercial purposes.
  • Our service providers — the companies that help us run the technical infrastructure (WhatsApp messaging provider, payment provider, hosting). They can only use your data for the specific job we hired them for.

We do not share your data with schools, universities, bursary funders, or any third party without your explicit permission.

5. How We Protect It

  • Your phone number is mathematically scrambled before storage — no one at Vela can read it
  • All data is encrypted (scrambled so that only authorised systems can read it)
  • Backups run daily to a separate secure location
  • Error logs never contain your personal information
  • Only staff who need access to do their job can access the data

6. Your Rights

Under South African law (POPIA), you have the right to:

  • See your data — ask us to show you what we hold about you
  • Fix your data — ask us to correct anything that's wrong
  • Delete your data — ask us to remove your information (some records may need to be kept for legal reasons)
  • Stop us using it — withdraw your consent at any time by replying STOP in WhatsApp or emailing us

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@velaguide.co.za. We respond within 30 days.

7. For Parents and Guardians

If your child is under 18, South African law requires that you give permission before Vela collects any information from them. Our WhatsApp flow asks the learner to confirm they have your permission before anything is stored.

As a parent or guardian, you have the same rights listed above on behalf of your child. You can ask to see, correct, or delete your child's data by emailing privacy@velaguide.co.za.

If you believe your child used Vela without your permission, contact us immediately and we will delete their data.

8. Complaints

If you're not satisfied with how we've handled your data, you can complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa:

9. Contact

Data questions: privacy@velaguide.co.za
General enquiries: hello@velaguide.co.za