Work 4 a living – Fight for your life

Monique Nezar, Life Choices Centre manager, recently opened an NPO called Work 4 a Living in Northmead, where people can attend their 13-day Job Ready Programme for R100.

“All income acquired is used to cover the costs of the NPO as well as any profit made is put into Life Choices,” explained Monique.

But what is this programme about?

“We are looking to bridge the gap between leaving school and the world of work,” she explained.

“We teach life skills, interviewing processes, ethics of a business and individual, professionalism, understanding the employer and so much more. Plenty of young adults either drop out of school or matriculate but don’t have the funds to go study further, ending up believing they are not good enough as most employers now want degrees, so in turn, they give up. This is where we come in, we want to help grow young individuals or older individuals who are struggling to break into the world of work or haven’t been offered the same opportunities as others.”

According to Monique, job hunting is a full-time job.

“Once one has completed the programme, we will certify them with certificates called the 3E Certificate,” she explained. 3E certification ensures your employees are fully knowledgeable on specific software, and it builds a solid foundation for your success.

“We work with companies within the community and are still growing, adding more companies to our roster so that once we deem someone certified, we can then suggest them to the companies within our database.

“Companies are at liberty to contact us with their exact specifications on what kind of employee they are looking for or to just be added to our database.”

So why R100?

“Although nothing in life is free and we want the people who come here to know that, this is more for people to not feel as if they are a charity case and to teach them to be wary of their money early. We don’t want people to not come just because they can’t afford the R100, so come on through anyway, we will figure it all out later.

“We want to help get people off the streets, get people to a stable way of living and assist those less fortunate than others.”

The entrepreneurship programme

“This is a very exciting initiative people can look forward to and why it is important to bring your R100,” said Monique.

“Each person will get back R50 and will be given eight days to come up with a way to make more money from that R50, like selling baked goods, for example. The most successful business will win not only their own earnings but also 50% of everyone else’s profit as well.”

The centre also boasts an e-café, which the chairs were donated by the 100% Foundation.

“We provide short online skills at an extra cost to help provide people with skills, such as merchandising, accounting and computer literacy.”

With a burning desire for world peace, Monique had to get started on this new initiative but wasn’t able to take it head-on alone.

“I had to take action. I could not have done it without the community though. Everything currently here is all because of them, so thank you all as well as the 100% Foundation who helped us from Life Choices to this new NPO

“People need to stop walking with a poverty mindset, so come on down if you are and let us help you.

“We want to use this opportunity to give someone a chance at life and to empower a nation through knowledge and skill.”

If you would like to make a cash donation to this cause, sponsor a student/part of the NPO or for more information, contact Monique on 0826781001.