Carpentry graduates grow into entrepreneurs

Despite having been in existence for less than two years, a youth development programme located in a workshop in Ga-Mareisi, 3 km outside Senwabarwana has already created job opportunities for five former students in the carpentry industry and has five more currently enrolled.
The Soutpan Solar Power Carpentry Graduate Programme kicked off in January 2019 and was inspired by the need to help provide work opportunities for graduates, coupled with the need for better school furniture. By marrying these needs a value chain has been set up that is opening doors for young community members in the Blouberg Municipality.
The programme supports carpentry graduate interns that are provided with a monthly stipend, and have a 12-month work contract, following which a new group of graduates will fill their shoes.
“This graduate programme has been brewing in our minds since 2015, when we became aware of the very high rate of unemployment amongst the youth in the local communities, hence our plan was to prepare and assist these youth to enter the workplace and also to help prepare them by providing experience to fulfil their day-to-day responsibilities,” Harrisinah Theka, Economic Development Officer for Soutpan Solar Power said.
The carpenters are graduates from the Capricorn and Waterberg Tvet Colleges’ Seshego Campus and Mokopane College respectively. They are busy refurbishing furniture for nearly fifteen local schools.
“The vast knowledge and skills that I have acquired have paved a way for me to enter any business terrain in the field of carpentry. My dream is to own a big carpentry company that will be in a position to supply school furniture in South Africa and reduce unemployment by creating jobst for at least 50 undergraduates,” former student Thabo Modjadji from Ga-Modjadji in Limpopo said and added that he saw no limitations in his future.
“This programme taught me the fundamentals about the daily running of a company, how to engage with clients and how to deal with dissatisfied clients. I am also pleased that I could help my family through the monthly stipend, whilst I have grown in terms of mental capacity,” he explained.
“I am motivated to achieve, as most of the activities were hands-on exercises; and best of all, I received assistance to find employment at one of the largest producers of timber in Tzaneen where I am currently employed,” Modjadji added.

Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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