Polokwane youth activist honoured with Fourty Under 40 award
The Forty under 40 Young Africans program is meant to identify, honour and celebrate the continent's most influential and accomplished young leaders from a wide range of industries.
POLOKWANE – International multi award-winning youth activist, Koketso Marishane from Polokwane joined the luminous and illustrious list of young trailblazers from across the country to celebrate their achievements at the first edition of the Forty Under 40 Young South Africans on Saturday.
The Forty under 40 Young Africans program is meant to identify, honour and celebrate the continent’s most influential and accomplished young leaders under the age of 40 from a wide range of industries, committed to business growth, professional excellence and community service and have risen up the ranks of their companies or industries at a young age.
During this event, the Minister of Women, Youth and People living with Disabilities, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma congratulated the winners.
“I want to emphasise that these awards are meant to acknowledge, recognise and celebrate excellent young people in South Africa, and therefore you are all winners here tonight. Whether you win the overall prize or not, by virtue of being a finalist, you should be proud of yourselves because you made it to the finals in a robust and tough competition.”
Finalists and their partners were entertained with beautiful African artistic renditions and cuisine while awaiting their big moments. In the spirit of ‘Botho’ and in accordance with the policy of ‘Lift As We Rise: Leave No One Behind’ complementing the National Development Plan 2030 Vision of South Africa, Marishane carried young people from his community to celebrate with him.
These are the people involved in the daily operations of building towards a healthy eco-system in the Marishane communities through the Marishane Youth Hub.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile graced the event with his wife as the inaugural event was hosted under the theme, The African Century Unlocking the Demographic Divided Through Investments.
The event was also graced by the North Korean ambassador to South Africa, and Samsung CEO in South Africa, Sung Yoon and the High Commissioner to South Africa from Kenya, Catherine Muigai Mwangi.
“I wish to convey my heartfelt thanks to public, private and public-private institutions, organisations and people from near and far who sacrificed their nothingness to bring me this far. Indeed, it’s always an honour and privilege to be entrusted with a public mandate and being a finalist and being the second individual to win this award for community development in the country is humbling, mindful of the pool of talent in the sector. The competition wasn’t just about me, but more about the people and communities we’ve been entrusted with the most sensitive responsibility which is to serve, as we continue with the cause of development by serving humanity. Thank you,” Marishane remarked.
