Ascendly

Privacy Notice

Version 2026-10-26 · Last updated 26 October 2026

Ascendly helps people turn mentorship into verified evidence of what they can do. To do that we process personal information. This notice explains what we collect, why, who we share it with and the rights you have under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).

1. Who is responsible for your information

The responsible party is Ascendly (Pty) Ltd, Johannesburg, South Africa. Our Information Officer is Anele Nqari (Founder). Contact us about privacy at anele@ascendly.co.za.

2. Who can use Ascendly

Ascendly is for people aged 18 and older. When you register you confirm that you are 18 or older. If we learn that an account belongs to someone under 18, we will close it and delete or de-identify the information.

3. What we collect

  • Account details: name, email address, password (stored only as a one-way hash) and role (Ascender, Mentor or Recruiter).
  • Profile details you choose to add: photo, headline, biography, location, industry, skills, goals, experience, links (such as LinkedIn or GitHub), phone number, contact email and CV.
  • Mentorship activity: mentorship requests, sessions, programmes, messages, feed posts, comments, endorsements, badges and notifications.
  • Evidence: images, video, audio and documents you upload, mentor reviews and verification decisions, and live-session recordings where participants start a recording.
  • Recruiter details: for Recruiters, the purpose, specialisation and hiring focus you provide, and your requests to contact Ascenders.
  • Technical information: sign-in records, security and audit logs, and error reports that help us keep the service working.

4. Why we use it

  • To create and secure your account and verify your email address.
  • To match Ascenders and Mentors, run sessions and programmes, and let people message each other.
  • To record, review and verify evidence and build your Portfolio.
  • To let approved Recruiters discover verified Portfolios and, only with your permission, contact you.
  • To prevent fraud and abuse, moderate content, resolve disputes and meet legal obligations.
  • To understand, fix and improve the service.

We process information because it is needed to provide the service you signed up for, because you consented, because we have a legitimate interest in keeping the platform safe and working, or because the law requires it. We do not sell personal information.

5. Who can see what

  • Public directory: new profiles are public by default. Signed-out visitors can then see your name, photo, headline, biography, location, industry, skills and badge counts. Your email, phone number, contact email, links and CV are never shown publicly.
  • Portfolios: full Portfolios can be viewed only by signed-in members, and only when the owner's profile is public.
  • Recruiters: your contact details are released to a Recruiter only after you grant permission and an Ascendly administrator reviews the request. You can withdraw permission.
  • Mentors: a Mentor you work with can see the evidence you submit to them for review.

To make your profile private, email anele@ascendly.co.za and we will change it for you.

6. Service providers and international transfers

We use trusted providers to host and run Ascendly: application and website hosting (Render and Vercel), database hosting (Neon), private file storage (Cloudflare R2), transactional email (Resend), live video sessions (LiveKit), error monitoring (Sentry) and location suggestions (Google Maps). Some of these providers store or process information outside South Africa. We only use providers that are bound by agreements requiring them to protect personal information to a standard comparable to POPIA, as section 72 of POPIA requires.

7. How long we keep information

We keep your information while your account is active. If you ask us to close your account, we delete or de-identify your personal information within a reasonable period, unless we must keep some of it to meet a legal obligation, resolve a dispute or protect the integrity of verification records that other people rely on. Security and audit logs are kept for a limited period.

8. How we protect it

We use encrypted connections, hashed passwords, role-based access controls, private storage with time-limited links for evidence and recordings, and audit logs for administrative actions. No system is perfectly secure; if a security compromise affects your information we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

9. Information stored on your device

Ascendly stores your sign-in session and a small amount of cached data in your browser's local and session storage so the app works and stays fast. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

10. Your rights

Under POPIA you may:

  • ask whether we hold your information and request a copy of it;
  • ask us to correct, update or delete it;
  • object to processing that relies on our legitimate interests;
  • withdraw consent where processing relies on consent; and
  • lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za.

To exercise these rights, email anele@ascendly.co.za from the address on your account. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request.

11. Changes to this notice

If we change this notice in a way that matters, we will update the version and date above and tell registered members. See also our Terms of Use.