July 2022

The Motsepe Skills and Opportunities event was scheduled to start early but it started later than usual, opening 2 or so hours late. We were given cute gift bags with notebooks, promotional battery chargers, chocolate and pens. It was a fun and cold day in July. We were told to attend the event because of the Incubator program from 22 on Sloane which I have been attending and grateful to be apart of.

Standing outside, I made some nice, friendly acquaintance friends that I stood next to and chatted to. While standing there a journalist from Bloomberg interviewed us and noted our stories about our career backgrounds with regards to looking for opportunities. TV journalists also took some shots of us on video. A photographer from the Foundation was also taking photos so we posed because why not, right? Photos are always fun. It was so nice to make friends that day to hang out with. The girls invited me to sit with them right in the front. That was great so that we could see the presentations nicely.

Topics addressed that were spoken about included – entrepreneurship characteristics, labour requirements, what candidates can do at big South African companies, discussions included probation periods, professionalism attitudes and Resume CVs. Failures were also part of a topic and made for inspirational material.

The décor, colors and the front area were lovely with appropriate chairs and furniture. The graphics, screens and video displays were of good quality.

The speakers ranged from the host to Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe, PWC CEO, Shirley Machaba, Naspers CEO, Phuti Mahanyele-Dabengwai, a Rain delegate, an Accenture delegate, Sanlam CEO, Hanratty, Discovery CEO, Alan Gore, and a businessman that buys and sells business owned by old people that are now retiring. To top it all off, Trevor Noah did a conference call talk from the USA towards the end of the day.

Dr. Precious Molio-Motsepe & Dr Peatrice Motsepe:

Dr. Precious Molio-Motsepe’s goal with The Motsepe Foundation Expo for Skills and Opportunities in July 2022 was their first one to date and involved growing their opportunities for youth. This was to be achieved by helping companies create 1 million opportunities for the youth of South Africa by 2027 aged 18–36-year-olds. She says that people must leave with prepared CVs and resumes. There were sign-up opportunities at expos and open-source learning with MIT University in the USA.

Dr. Patrice Motsepe, talking on stage – owner of ARM, Tyme Bank to name a few, spoke about his background, where he grew up, and how he grew up and spoke of how he was taught to have a very strong work ethic from a young age. School holidays with his father made them work harder. He did not take or go on school holidays as other families did. That strong work ethic seemed to imprint a sense of diligence on him which was seen in his drive to work until midnight. He was always told that the customer is always right. He advised that we should follow the desires of the customers and focus on profitability. Many people believed in them, the Motsepes. He encourages people to have a sense of confidence and hope, especially the youth. Other messages he provides young people with are: “don’t let circumstances, unemployed parents, schools not being good enough and not having resources to support what you have been looking for, for a long time.” Education is the foundation of life and even after University, if you can’t get a job, you still have the capacity to change. You can pursue job opportunities, persevere and work hard to distinguish yourself. This was very encouraging advice for the youth from Dr. Peatrice Motsepe.

Sometimes when starting a business, there isn’t access to resources to let everyone get exposed to the 4^th Industrial revolution technology. Technology can generate high costs for business operations.

He encourages all to say that with hard work you will achieve great things! He told the crowd stories involving that he came from a poor background with humble beginnings. He notes that young people can start out with education. He didn’t want to be an employee but pursued entrepreneurship. He says that his grandfather owned a business and so did his father. He sold half loaves, achar and vetkoeks. His father woke them up at 5 am and they would buy and sell goods and services. He went to a boarding school at age 7 or 8 and the other boys went to Durban, and he says that they never had family holidays. In his school holidays they woke up at 5 am and until midnight they worked hard.

He went to school and then university to study Law and started out as a lawyer.

In 2017 he was mentioned and honored by Time Magazine, please see link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNaGFcr7K3A

He wanted to look at Law at school. He went to WITS and Swaziland University. He was always told that the customer is always right! He wanted to follow the desires of the customers and focus on profitability. Many believed in the Motsepe’s which helped. He says, “we need to give people a sense of confidence and hope for the youth.”

He was asked what you would advise as a younger version of Patrice. He said: “there will always be problems and pessimism. There will be African pessimism. Focus on the optimistic. Be extremely ambitious.”

“The message I give out to young people is: don’t let your circumstances, unemployed parents, inadequate schools or lack of access to resources to support you, and having to look for jobs for long periods, discourage you. Education is a foundation. Even after university, you may not find a job easily, but you have the capacity to change, pursue job opportunities and persevere. Work hard to distinguish yourself. If you’re starting a business and access to finance is hard, this isn’t a short-term race but a long-term journey. There will be moments of failure.”

When he bought old mines that were unprofitable and closed, the headlines of the newspapers said: “Patrice Motsepe buys dead mines.” He paid less. They worked with them, and they paid less but they kept hope alive.

There is an opportunity for Africa and AI (Artificial Intelligence), but the costs are high for business operations. “We have to provide the infrastructure and the resources to let everyone get exposed to the 4^th industrial revolution technology.”

The Milken Institute and Motsepe Foundation are combining technology and entrepreneurship together. How can we make technology for health and the migration of technology happen?

Africa will have to target and inspire a lot more urban areas of the world. We will need to produce the next artists and many many more innovations that can be and will be seen and felt worldwide.

There are AI and tech experts that are learning and acquiring knowledge in every country, and we, as Africans and South Africans, must acquire many more skills in technology.

Fireside chat

SHIRLEY MACHABA CEO of PwC South Africa, says she ran her career like a business. She also did her B.Com at University. Her thoughts on mentors are that they must be honest and say it as it is. Deep and dark places or hard times built her to be who she is. Mentor, value yourself and your own expectations.

Someone ran before you and can help you put it together. Work ethics – look at notes or work at night. She made time to talk that day at the expo.

The CEO, Shirley Machaba, said that social entrepreneur skills are important. Entrepreneurs are the bones of the economy. Digital skills improve productivity, drive insights and help efficiency. Positive mindsets produce results! Project management courses are good to engage in, so one can learn how to run a business.

A student or recent graduate asked the CEO if PWC would join their program at Total.  Shirley Machaba said: “be positive. Show up when you get support and be ready. Opportunities don’t just appear, but you must show up. Look at how PWC stands up for businesses.”

PHUTHI MAHANYELE-DABENGWA – South Africa CEO, Naspers

The CEO mentioned that the big tech organizations are here looking for skills so one must have tech skills. Naspers is looking at skills. They trained 2265 and placed 1700 people in jobs. People come in but ensure that you stay and run through the whole course which shows commitment. She advised, “Stay in the saddle and focus, no matter how people treat you.”

Naspers has access to capital for educational training of 1.4 Billion Rand (ZAR), which was set aside to train early-stage but not yet profitable businesses. Small Businesses appear a lot lower regarding technology development. You can’t see that much support.

 Naspers Foundry sets aside capital for only certain people, perhaps governmental and universal criteria which will hopefully expand to include all South African youth. She advises again according to her own opinions, that digital is where the opportunities are for the youth sector in South Africa that are struggling.

The CEO mentions that digital skills are important. Businesses are not easy to start!  She was also invested in relationships and those that were of quality. She continues to study the sector and goes into deep research occasionally. She encourages the studying of new skills. “To be an entrepreneur you need to stick it through.” Phuti suggests. I feel that is contrary to many people’s beliefs as one does of course need to be thoughtful in their directions and pursuits though.

She stayed and worked her way up in New York for several years.  She says that there is more of a hunger to achieve things there. However, there is not a big enough focus on family and health there, as they work very long hours. She worked very hard but unfortunately forgot about her family and she herself suffered from a stroke and had memory loss in the early 2000s. She says that she also noticed that businesses can scale quicker in New York USA because of more access to funding.

The main points from PHUTHI MAHANYELE-DABENGWA CEO from Naspers talk include – “Digital are concerns, which is where it is “all” happening these days. Self-care, family and friends are important. Make sure you can learn new skills. Digital upskilling is important. Failure is not the end of you. You can learn a lot from failure.”

Golden Circle – The Entrepreneur’s Pitch

5 or so people were chosen from the entries to pitch on stage with slides while judges, which included Dr. Patrice Motsepe, Naspers CEO – Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa., Allan Raiz, Brain Dames, Brian Smith, Herman Singh provided judging and constructive critique and guidance on the business expansion plans of three selected entrepreneurs was discussed when they pitched. The Golden Circle, according to The Motsepe Foundation, is an interesting inter-generational bringing and giving of insights and an exclusive look into how entrepreneurs can seed an idea and help grow it  into prosperity. This happens as they present and afterwards receive critique and guidance. The competitors were creating app businesses that were making differences in educational technology, food ordering services, restaurant food waste and games with technology. All four Entrepreneurs sounded fantastic with great motivation and were passionate about what they do. The winners however seemed to have put in a lot more work than the others. That made them win. One of the entries that was presented was from our incubator program. His name is Rich and his app was about restaurant waste. He didn’t win but he made it to the finals to pitch which also shows success and the crowds cheered loudly for him.

Empowerment session

Entrepreneurs character is important. Take the good with the bad. Have resilience. Look for driven determination, and clarity of thought. Have a fire in the belly! This speaker’s focus in his company’s offering was on buying businesses from retiring people.

Businesses require commitment, a clear understanding about the “why?” having autonomy, and learning to look for opportunities and really look at things. What is the bigger picture? It can be rewarding in various ways. Ask yourself what is the problem that I am solving? There are 6000 opportunities every day. An example would be to do a search on “funds in Africa”.

Labor requirements were advised from speakers offering encouragement for when you’re job seeking.

CV and resume: People are getting hired based on outward appearances and status. This is quite often due to policies, so it’s best to include disclosure of race. I feel that is unfortunate and can exclude talent from the economy and exclude employers from receiving talent perhaps. Being consistent is important. Be professional with your CV and resume as it is not a dating site.

Connect emotionally with your CV and resume. Make sure to match your personality with it. Make sure that you get experience. Volunteer somewhere but I also add that to be thoughtful in volunteering so that you do not get used or abused in free labor such as your field of expertise when looking.

Interview Tips: Watch out for your body posture in interviews. If you cannot explain something then ask them to “Please rephrase the question”. Prepare yourself emotionally. With mental affirmations such as: “If you are yourself, then they will be crazy not to hire you.”  If they give you the job there will be the 1^st 90 days of probation.

Probation period: – be prepared, which dress code should you adhere to? Please do research in advance. Take up and take part. Show enthusiasm. Do not shy away. It can be tough to take part. Practice communication. If you do not understand something, then you should ask. Invest in learning. Take notes – write or type. Journal things at night. Do not be shy about making mistakes. In relationships at work: who are they? Who can I get help from? Who will give me a big hug? What’s on LinkedIn and in the media?  Be bright and intelligent.

Some specialized fields can open doors. You can change your career a few times. Fail forward. The company Rain started out as the underdog.

Your bosses expect you to not know things. Learning agility is important. Sharpen that skill. Keep your uniqueness. Attitude is everything.

Sabe Ratsebitse CFO of Rain says they are asking themselves as a company how can we contribute to the country?

1.    Alleviating unemployment in the youth. 2.  How do we make sure that we have enough citizens to participate economically? We need to create employment opportunities. How do we make the internet accessible to all? Access to the internet is almost a human right. She mentioned how she hired a recent graduate that studied Geology and not marketing, for her Marketing department because she had a great Instagram account. I personally do not agree or feel that is appropriate as why not hire a marketing graduate instead. Geology is great for mining or environmental or construction rather.

Allan Gore Founder of Discovery:

The problem now is unemployment and poverty. We, the greater community, can and will fix this through systemic change. Fixing things through engagement and trust and creating structures, seeking positivity, seeking common ground, finding what works and discarding what doesn’t work. Seeking the positive is a sophisticated approach and seeking the negative, is a crude approach. Seeking the positive made an impact, more than other processes or approaches. There are positive attributes here. He mentioned the Ukraine War and how bad it is. Ukraine is half of the size of South Africa. Despite that we are so below and behind them in many aspects, we have the biggest or one of the most popular airline flight structures or routes going from Johannesburg to Cape Town. People do not appreciate what we do have here. 80% of the pension funds of the continent of Africa sit in South Africa so there is sophistication here and growth.

Look for the positive signals and grasp the opportunities. Discovery started in 1992 in South Africa amidst the countries poor economic growth, tho strong currency at the time and mass exodus of immigration and threats of war. The advantage of starting at the time, when others are fleeing and insead you will see and look for opportunities at that time is when the magic happens. Difficult times are when you build and what is difficult is that you make important decisions to get ahead. I feel, be kind, and fair while doing so. He urges us to not be deterred by the current but to be focused on the positive signals. Success, as he says and suggests, is about your attitude and the narrative around your attitude. Of course, be realistic. Whatever you choose and the attitude that you have, will help the community and our responsibility is to create jobs and make an impact. It will only come from people like us, meaning ones that are positive that apply a positive impact. Apply yourselves when there are opportunities.

There were also exhibitions by some of the big companies in South Africa, such as Motsepe-owned Harmony Gold mines, African Rainbow Minerals and Tyme Bank of course. As well as Sanlam which sponsored gifts such as cell phone chargers, chocolate fake gold coins. Other stands belonged to Naspers Labs – which had x2 stands, Accenture, SNG Grant Thornton, African Fashion International, ACL Foods Foundation – which does lovely food schemes, Think Tank, MIT/J-WEL (The Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab called (J-WEL) a joint initiative between MIT and Community Jameel), Agri enterprises, Rain, Tsebo, Harambee, Mamelodi Sundowns FC soccer team which is chaired by Motsepe son, Thlopie Motsepe and many more exhibitors. There were opportunities offered such as bursaries, a chance to join as suppliers, competitions and many more. 

Later on, the crowd that attended were treated to really nice buffet food wraps from Woolworths, muffins, juices, coffees, teas and snacks all paid for by The Motsepe Foundation for the talks and expo that day.

Finally, it was a lovely event with much learned and appreciated advice. I am listening and grateful for being able to attend and appreciative that the speakers did helpful, encouraging, memorable and inspiring talks. The advice for myself and other young South Africans, other Africans and worldwide youth to benefit from. Many attended online and in person but I hope the next Information and Opportunities Exhibit by The Motsepe Foundation will be one that even more people can attend virtually and in person.