Career head start for Rabie Ridge youth
RABIE RIDGE - The unemployed youth of Rabie Ridge received a helping hand in the form of Blueberry Brand Events and Promotions.
The young people-orientated company held a career expo in which they invited various entities to educate the youth on how to make themselves employable and more visible to employers.
One of these was Harambee, a non-profit organisation that helps 18- to 28-year-olds find work. “We are a youth employment accelerator, we work with people in that age group. However, because we’ve recently partnered with the government, we sometimes stretch the age limit to 34,” said Adela Ndlangamandla, communications practitioner at the organisation.
Ndlangamandla said most of the unemployed youth who had brought their CVs with them were well trained but lacked experience. “We’ve seen hundreds of CVs and most of the individuals have matric and have gone on to study further. These are not people who are not doing anything, they are trying to improve their lives,” she said.
Sammy Mokgoatsane, founder and marketing director of Blueberry, said the expo had been a two-day event that not only concentrated on unemployed youth but also on high school pupils who needed direction.
“The people that have come here are the unemployed, and schoolgoing children who are interested in bursaries and colleges,” he said.
“These are people that want to know, after matric, what’s next?” He said he was glad to have been able to bring the educational tools back to his community, as he was born in the nearby Kanana township.
More than 3 000 pupils and youth attended the expo. Attendees, Comfort Moshokoa and Thokozani Mabaso, were at the expo as volunteers and to gain knowledge. “I am a small business owner of Baltimore Industrial Solutions, a consultancy services firm,” said Moshokoa.
“I help companies [study] trends in education.” He was representing his company as well as manning the table for Rabie Ridge Library with his friend, Mabaso.
“As a member of this community, I thought it was important for the people that came here to know about our community library,” said Mabaso.
“Unfortunately, I am currently unemployed, but I believe that if we unite as a community we will all be successful.”
Details: www.blueberrybrandevents.co.za; www.harambee.co.za/harambee/; Baltimore Industrial Solutions: mcmoshokoa@gmail.com
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