Vuk'uzenzele

Entreprene­ur pays it forward despite personal setback

- Lindelwa Fuku-Manjiya

When inspiratio­n planted hope to Kelebogile Madisa, the founder of Mminakgomo Events and Projects, who wanted to encourage the children at Sandfontei­n, Rustenburg in the North West to continue giving their all on their school work.

When Kelebogile Madisa was retrenched from her job in 2018, she decided to start a free tutoring programme in Sandfontei­n, in Rustenburg, North West.

Even though the mentorship and tutoring program is available for free, Madisa explains what inspired her to start the program in her home town during a difficult time in her life.

“I worked as a Senior Archivist and Educationa­l

Officer. After receiving a number of calls from learners and parents that I mentored and tutored as an educationa­l Officer requesting my services, I decided to make it an official business though my services are free”, she said.

Madisa is the founder of Mminakgomo Events and Projects. As an entreprene­ur, she received training from the Small Enterprise Developmen­t Agency in

September 2017 on how to handle finances.

One of the challenges she faces is a permanent place where she can do all her business operation, because at this

Currently operating from her garage, plans are afoot for the programme to move to a better suited location.

“I am passionate about helping people more especially young ones. It is important for the learners to get their grades up than me getting money. Another challenge that I usually struggles with is transport, sometimes I can't transport them back to their places after the program. They then have to walk back to their respective places or I drive an overload car just so they can get home safely”, she said.

She also explained that the number of learners that she mentors is not consistent, because some come once for assistance when they have school projects and assignment­s. However, she currently has 10 learners.

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