by Hugh C.n. Miller | Mar 8, 2022 | Old News
What Cecelia Motsemedi had to say about ORT SA
“We live in a country with a propelling rocket high unemployment rate. With such high rates, one should expect fierce competition and many scams. It’s easy to point fingers, however when I conduct a self study, I realise I was not armoured with strong wings (skills and information), to propel myself forward.
#ORT gave me the motivation to carve something I can be proud of. Never in my wildest dreams a year ago, did I think my blog would have so many followers. When you are a content creator, it’s important to be authentic, transparent and be yourself because your followers can sense fakery. A year later, I have an interview with an author. A year later
Accidental teacher is a brand that has stakes in energy, agriculture and property, however it’s growing organically slowly. But, I keep on building because, big things start small as Jeff Bezos said. How did I do it? By seizing the opportunities presented by
ORT South Africa
By exploiting the information you post. I love the fact that, you spread valuable information that can be used by school going youth and unemployed graduates.
Now I’m ready to learn content marketing as a skill, because we live in a digital world, I want to be a player in that playground.”
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Mar 8, 2022 | Old News
All you need is one pitch to take your business to the next level
To pitch a business idea or start a business is a delicate situation. Your motivation can be killed with a yawn or someone looking at their phone. It can be scary to share your ideas with potential investors because you fear the word “NO”. ORT SA provided a friendly, warm environment where 11 potential businesses pitched their ideas at the ORT SA Business Plan Competition held on Monday, 3 March 2022. This opportunity was created by ORT SA and directed at the Nedbank sponsored YES beneficiaries to help kick-start young entrepreneurs who don’t think out of the box, but rather get rid of the box completely.
The Business Plan Competition culminated with 3 winners, providing them with capital to assist with turning an idea into reality:
- 3rd runner-up Tiisetso Kgatla – Tiisetso Catering: received R3000 prize money
- 2nd runner up Sonwabiso Selani – Infinite Housing Agency: received R7500 prize money
- 1st place Mpumelelo Prince Blakkie – Impumelelo Furniture: received R10 000 prize money
In addition, these three winners will be part of the ORT Jet program where they will receive mentoring, networking, and training to enhance their business acumen. What made the ultimate winner stand out is his tenacity. He explained how he is constantly upskilling himself, no matter the obstacles in his way. Every month he would use his stipend to buy small tools, to build up his inventory for his furniture business.
Moreover, he had a detailed plan on how to get all his power tools and how he planned on growing his business slowly from one customer to many. The R10 000 will accelerate his plan by a few months – he can now buy most of his power tools and start working on bigger projects sooner rather than later.
As a result, everyone participating in the ORT SA Business Plan Competition will have their business registered Additionally, all the youth who pitched, regardless of whether they were in the top 3, will be invited to participate in ORT Jet’s 7-week Business Bootcamp. The Bootcamp will provide them with valuable skills for building a successful business.
The participants rose to the challenge, had passion and conviction in their business ideas, and displayed their creativity.
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Mar 7, 2022 | Old News
North West’s ticket to success is the solid foundation of education ORT SA is paving.
ORT SA and E M Education Trust partnership is continuing to enrich the youth of Lebotloane, a small village in the North West Province of South Africa. Through an accredited Cisco NetAcad course dubbed IT Essentials, ORT SA has facilitated the education and empowerment of the youth. During this program, students will learn the knowledge and practical skills they will need to succeed in the field of information technology.
In his address to the youth of his village, Chief Dr Kgosi urged them to continue educating themselves and their communities.
“If you don’t read you can’t lead. To stay relevant in the community you need to become Innovative“
A partnership between E M Education Trust and ORT SA achieved incredible results where 100 beneficiaries enrolled in the programme, which was divided into four cohorts.
There was a celebratory award ceremony for the last cohorts that was held on the 23rd February 2022, at Baphuthing Ba-Ga-Nawa Community Hall, to recognize and acknowledge the beneficiaries for successfully completing the program and to congratulate them on all of the hard work that they put into the course. Among the most notable beneficiaries were four individuals who started the program while they were still in school.
Vuyo Mwase The CEO of EMET said to the beneficiaries:
“It is important to give back and empower others when having the means to do so. We chose to work with ORT SA because of their mission which is making people employable and we are passionate about making a difference in disadvantaged communities.”
We, at ORT SA, work together with our sponsors and youth to enhance the lives of young people in South Africa and South Africa itself.
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Jan 13, 2022 | Old News
YOUTH: Botshelo Moreki
HOST: Rasimone Primary School, Rustenburg
POSITION: IT Assistant
- What were you doing before this opportunity with YES?
I have a small business that I started in 2018.Which I have a great vision to grow it.
- How has the YES programme impacted your life?
I was introduced to IT-Essentials and I was excited because this will assist me aligning with some of the technical work which my company has a major intake in.
- What new skills/experiences/networks have you acquired/been exposed to?
ORT-SA gave me the opportunity to understand and know the basics of computer, which now is so much easy to initiate some work in my company.
- How differently do you see yourself as a result of the YES programme?
Personally, I gained a lot of courage and boldness that will use in my company.
- What future do you see for yourself now?
BotsheloMo Holdings (PTY) LTD has a Digital Marketing, Advertising and Networking site; so ORT-SA truly gave me exposure to start up in digitalization.
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Dec 9, 2021 | COVID19, Old News
What is complacency?
Complacency is a feeling of satisfaction or security, which may cause us to be unaware of potential danger. We need to have conversations about the risk of complacency because it causes us to be overconfident and unprepared when a dire occurrence becomes a reality, and this applies to all individuals.
An example of a dire occurrence is the Coronavirus Omicron variant that has infected tens of thousands of individuals daily in our country. As we have approached the time of the year where mass gatherings are inevitable, we need to be careful and make sure we are not complacent.
How can we do so?
For starters, we need to keep Desiderius Erasmus’ statement in mind when he said, “prevention is better than a cure.” Remembering this will help us to take basic practical measures to protect not only ourselves but also those around us. In order for us to be protected, we need to ensure we are maintaining a safe social distance, wearing a mask in public, washing hands often and staying home when not feeling well.
In closing, we all need to consider the danger of complacency when it comes to the spread of COVID-19 and do our part to help ourselves and others around us.
