Making dreams make ‘cents’: young South Africans are turning their passion into paydays
For many people, dreams all too often remain just that – goals we fantasise about attaining one day, but don’t always truly believe we can achieve. However, more and more young, enterprising South Africans from all walks of life and disciplines are believing in themselves and committing to making their dreams a reality.
Commenting on the stories shared by two remarkable young and resourceful rising talents, each with a unique and compelling story to share, Vuma’s My Community Connects ambassador and mentor, Jimmy Nevis, says that these stories should and must be shared, to inspire and motivate others to keep working towards their own aspirations. “Remaining steadfast in pursuing your dreams, despite challenges and setbacks, takes guts, and what Katlego and Akido are doing for their communities demonstrates a lot of perseverance.,” says Nevis.
“Katlego is tackling a head-on crisis in our communities – safety – and that should definitely be commended and supported,” he continues. “Akido is an amazing example of a young South African who did not give up on his education, and he is now paying forward the life-changing lessons he learned through his journey. These guys have me so inspired, I can’t wait to see how their businesses grow.”
Katlego Maaroganye dreamed of starting his own business venture with technology and innovation at its heart. Growing up in Soweto, Katlego has always been fascinated with finding innovative solutions to everyday challenges.
With the goal of bringing safety and transparency to the transport business in his local neighbourhood and further afield in South Africa, Katlego established Hi-Source, a platform that aims to connect parents in search of before and after-school transport to vetted, trustworthy drivers in their areas.
“I wanted to bring peace of mind and transparency to the transport business and came up with the idea for the Hi-Source platform from this, where parents can view and select drivers, who have already been vetted to ensure they don’t have criminal backgrounds,” he says.
Katlego began developing the idea and putting it into motion in 2019. However, the onset of the global pandemic and resulting lockdown restrictions, coupled with financial setbacks, forced Katlego to put his business plans on hold.
Still in the ideation phase of getting Hi-Source up and running, Katlego entered his business idea into the Vuma My Community Connects platform, which aims to empower creatives, social innovators, hustlers and enterprising young entrepreneurs by giving them a space to showcase their talent, reach wider audiences, and grow their businesses. Through this initiative, Katlego hopes he will be able to find investors and connect with mentors, to establish his business and achieve his ultimate goal of turning Hi-Source into a national app-based platform.
Similarly, Akido Malabela, a photographer, videographer, and social entrepreneur – also a My Community Connects entrant – is another inspiring example of young South Africans working tirelessly to make their vision a reality. Having established Malabela Photography in June 2016, Akido has overcome many obstacles to get to where he is, enduring the constant rejection and setbacks that so many young people experience in their quest to level-up.
“I was rejected seven times at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) before I finally got in. I had tried since 2016, and it wasn’t because I didn’t meet the minimum requirements to get into university, but because of a lack of access to the right information and understanding how the processes work,” says Akido.
“For example, I’d apply for an advanced diploma course, not knowing that before you do an advanced diploma you’d have to do the diploma first. And of course, the university would just reject the application without explaining why, which is how I continued down this road and kept getting rejected to study. But the more I applied on the varsity system, the better I understood how it worked,” he says.
After several failed attempts, Akido was finally steered in the right direction during a film interview, resulting in his application for study towards a diploma in photography finally being accepted in 2019.
As a result, not only does he now run a successful photography and videography business, but he also recognised a need among other young people who were experiencing the same challenges in applying to attend university. This is what propelled the establishment of Help a Student, an NPO dedicated to assisting young people with the administrative elements involved in applying to attend university. To date, Help a Student has assisted over 800 students to enter university.
“Both Katlego and Akido are the perfect examples of the importance of having access to connectivity, information and resources in order to identify the opportunities to reach your potential, be extraordinary and achieve tangible economic success,” says Mathilda Robertson of Vuma.
“South African communities have powerful and beautiful stories to share, and Vuma is among the many players within the private sector that can help put the spotlight on them and give them the springboard they need to not only grow, but to inspire others to create and innovate.”
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