The Imbizo took place in November in Pretoria at the National Museum of cultural history with a total number of 37 Attendees inclusive of stakeholders from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) & Mutualism.

November marks a very important month for entrepreneurs in South Africa as we acknowledge and celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week. In view of this, our youth economic participation sector aims to make difference in more ways than one by hosting the Imbizo.

According to Stats SA, about 37% businesses in South Africa are considered formal, the rest is informal. How are young people being assisted by both the public, private sector as well as local community members? Two out of three Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) owners run their own enterprises and do not have any employees, while 32% provide between one and ten jobs.

While growth in the number of SMEs over the last ten years has been lower than economic growth, the contribution by these SMEs towards South Africa’s gross value-added (which is equal to GDP before taxes and subsidies) increased from 18% in 2010 to 40% in 2020 [this here is according to OECD iLibrary is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) featuring its books, papers, podcasts and statistics and is the knowledge base of OECD’s analysis and data – website.

Bearing this mind during the Imbizo Activators received a chance to enter the A! BizDen Competition and win great prizes for their businesses.

Stats SA also indicates that two out of three SME owners run enterprises without employees, while 32% provide between one and ten jobs within their community, not forgetting that the unemployment rate is currently at a high of 33,9% in the second quarter of 2022 is there a real permanent solution to unemployment? this here is according to

As we celebrate our 10th year anniversary Activate!.Org we will be unpacking aligned to the theme, celebrate how far we’ve come & aim to intentionally empower, give exposure, promote & recognize Activators within the A! Network across all business industries.

For the Imbizo we had a pitching competition taking place and had 3x Activators who won prizes valued at R3000 each:  namely: Telo Moloi 2019 Activator, Jabulani Thabethe 2018 Activator, Sibongile Mongadi 2016 Activator.

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE IMBIZO

As a sector we are committed to creating provocative and helpful sessions with industry experts that avail themselves to collaborate with us for critical discourse, in line with the organisation’s imperative strategy of building the capacity and promotion of Gauteng Activators hence the Imbizo sets out to achieve the following:

• Creating an enabling environment for Activators more especially females to open up, have a safe space and assist them mentally on how they can learn to cope or balance in all aspects of life with the help of mental health coaches/experts that will be present on the day
• To help advance them to learn and up-scale themselves with new financial models and strategies when it comes to managing their money on a business and personal level
• To showcase and elevate the work that female Activators are doing within the province and allow them to get the support that they need
• Sharing knowledge, skills, promoting, growing & creating a sense of awareness for small & social businesses run by Activators within the network
• The sharing of knowledge within the various business spaces with the intention of changing the mindset & behaviour regarding the importance of aspects aligned to agriculture sector, how technology affects these sectors the uses, advantages and disadvantages as well.
• Getting youth voices to speak and be heard & coming up with real-time-based solutions that will be implemented.

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Meet the winners:

1. Telo Moloi

Telo is a hardworking and dedicated individual who believes in community development and collaborating with others to achieve a purpose which will play a pivotal role in society.

He opened a business called the Shack, a restaurant which offers a wide range of quality fast food served with passion. The Integral part of this organisation is “profitability with social consciousness”, with an intention to contribute immensely to the development of the community. For Telo, loadshedding is his business’s biggest challenge it has caused us to downsize and no longer stock in bulk and this affects our working capital and sales.

“I would really appreciate a donation of a generator so that we can be able to operate even during loadshedding, and would greatly like to collaborate with an activator to host business seminars which will offer information to entrepreneurs operating in townships”.

“The A! Imbizo was an overwhelming experience. We managed to network, connect and get equipped with knowledge from different stakeholders and there was delicious food offered to us and the pitching competition was an amazing experience”.

Connect with Telo:
Facebook: Telo Moloi
Insta: Telo_Moloi
Twitter: @MoloiTelo

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2. Jabulane Hope Thabethe

Jabulane founded two movements which are Barefoot Walk #40dayswithouthShoes initiative where he walked over 40 days without wearing his shoes between winter seasons to create awareness that there are kids who walk distances to school without wearing any shoes. From here, he managed to help 12775 kids with pairs of school shoes worth over 2.2 Million Rands within a space of five years across South Africa and other parts of Africa.

From 2016-2022, he walked from Johannesburg to Durban for the same cause of raising school shoes. Here is the link to his interview on SABC Morning Live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e6skLbVLP4&t=98

Tipping Point

“Three days before my walk to Durban in 2016, my mother passed away. She taught me how to be strong, accept, and lead myself to my dreams. My mother would have wanted me to carry on making my dreams a reality”.

“I decided to create Hope for Africa foundation to give all children of Africa hope that despite their situation, they can achieve their dreams. In the aftermath of my mother’s death, In the aftermath of my mother’s death, I felt hopeless and alone, and I thought of how many other kids are experiencing this feeling without anyone to guide or even show them love. This is why Hope for Africa Foundation was established.

Great strides

“It has been eight years since I started a business; I have worked with Lady Du, LebzaTheVillain, Harrison Crump (House Legend), disco 55 and many others. I also served as a marketing consultant for Vosloorus Crossing Centre.”

Jabulani is an innovative leader who understands the importance of helping those in need and creative institutions and products in a competitive business environment.

He believes that helping those in need and creative businesses must adapt because they too operate in escalating inflation and rapid technological advancement.

“The Challenges currently that I have are if any activators know of good suppliers of materials to make shoes should just alert me and if they also want to be part of the journey we do allow investors to come in and help us grow the vision.”

“The A! Imbizo was very great it was one of the greatest experiences in a lifetime where we discuss and celebrated the 10th anniversary of Activate Change Drivers, what stood out for me was that there are many young people who are capable and can lead us”

Connect with Jabulani on:
Cell: +27 67 0808 201/ +27 78 327 1130
Website: www.hopeforafricafoundation.co.za

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3. Sibongile Mongadi

Sibongile Mongandi founded Uku’hamba Prosthetics and Orthotics, a 100%, black and youth women-owned healthcare manufacturing company that has been in existence since January 2020.

Uku’hamba Prosthetics and Orthotics (Pty) Ltd produce lightweight prosthetics, splints and braces to improve the conditions of amputees living with disabilities with a vision of giving them back their independence and confidence. Prosthetics, splints and braces are custom-made, durable, water-resistant and low-cost. Though newly incorporated, the company has managed to move from concept through prototype development to production in a short space of time to demonstrate the determination, competence and commitment of the owner to the vision of Uku’hamba Prosthetics and Orthotics (Pty) Ltd.

“The company operates within a network of experts who possess expertise acquired from various industries necessary for the success of Uku’hamba Prosthetics and Orthotics (Pty) Ltd through excellent customer service that is aimed at delighting the amputees.”

With vast experience and competencies, and great work ethic and high quality and excellence, the company is sure to make relevant inroads into the Bio-technology and healthcare manufacturing industries, and we are intentional in becoming one of the key role players in these sectors.

Though the company is based in Gauteng, it has all the capacity to be a supplier of choice in the whole of South Africa and beyond our borders with the vision to expand into Africa. Given the above undertaking, surely the company is earmarked to become a huge success and a great force to be reckoned with and highly recognized business venture in South Africa and in the entire African continent.

Connect with Sibongile Mngadi and partner with Ukuhamba reach out on:
Cell: 072 949 9571 / 0677218062
Emails: info@ukuhamba.co.za or sibongile@ukuhamba.co.za