Follow your dreams to ‘suxceed’
TO OVERCOME challenges, the youth of today need to believe in themselves and follow their dreams.
This is the advice of Siwinile Khumalo, 31, who is making an impact in the world of entrepreneurship.
Khumalo, from Ngwelezane in northern Kwazulu-natal, is a civil engineer by profession and a businesswoman by passion. She is the director of Suxceed Projects, a company which specialises in manufacturing something rarely heard of – atmospheric bottled water.
She started the company after her engineering experiences took her into the deep rural parts of South Africa where she discovered a dire shortage of what most people took for granted: clean drinking water. She aims to bring hope to those who have lost it, especially due to a lack of clean water.
“The atmospheric water generator machine produces water by extracting moisture from the atmosphere through a condensation process.
“The water passes through a filtration process and UV sterilisation process that produces ultra-pure, healthy drinking water,” Khumalo explained.
Her water is sold to businesses but she hopes to be in a position one day to supply clean drinking water to the masses.
Khumalo said growing up in a big family, working and playing together, had a lot to do with her business success.
“It is like an older style of living where everyone works in the family business. This has made me humble and ambitious. I am a driven young African woman because of my background,” she said.
This Youth Month, Khumalo said we should be reminded of the sacrifices that were made by the youth of 1976, for freedom.
“The action that was taken by young people on June 16 is proof that when young people mobilise themselves they can change the world,” she said.