Celebrating young leaders this youth month

By Nomvuyo Sebeko

The month of June is all about celebrating the bravery of young people and how determined they are when it comes to improving their lives. We at ACTIVATE! have dedicated this month to celebrating all the young people in the network who are #payingitforward in their communities. We had an opportunity to have a conversation with one of the young leaders:

Meet 2016 Activator Mzwandile Chilwane from Gauteng

“We are ready to lead and help South Africa to be the best we want it to be”

Mzwandile is a 28 year old business owner who is passionate about creating jobs and changing people’s lives. The name of his business is Mzobu (PTY) LTD it was founded in 2013 November when it had only four employees. The business is based in Tsakane and focuses on skills work which includes carpentry and plumbing sometimes they do office painting and renovations. As a young person growing up in the township, his dreams have always been to uplift the people in the township and use the skills they have to help them feed their families.

Mzwandile Chilwane joined ACTIVATE! in 2016 because we was interested in learning how he can use his entrepreneurial skills to uplift his community. He identified with the fact that ACTIVATE! is all about young people changing the world. Through the network he partnered with other young people to organise a unique spa day treatment for the elderly people of Tsakane during Mandela day last year. He also took some time out of his business to talk to some young people about starting a business and sustaining a business, by doing so he opened doors to be a mentor for other young people interested in business.

Talking about youth month and how young people of today are representing the youth of 1976, Mzwandile mentioned a lack of passion and how he thought young people were not putting a great deal of effort in to be successful. Social media was one of the first things he saw as a disadvantage for young people as it only influences them in terms of the trends and flashy lifestyles, “They think posting about the good life means hard work while not putting in any work,” he says. 

“The struggle of the youth of 1976 was for better and equal opportunities in life. The struggle of young people today is social media and the “fake” life, the pressure that is put on us by society in terms of being successful and making it while we’re still young is very real. Talking about his business and future plans, he wishes to employ more than 20 people in the next four years, he has been observing the demand of accommodation and wants to join the property investment business in the coming year where he will be buying and selling / renting houses.

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