By: Lungisa Somtombo
A youth empowerment organisation Bumb’ingomso hosted a Socio-Economic Forum for young women in Cambridge Community Hall yesterday.
Organiser and Bumb’ingomso training manager Phumla Ngesi said the aim of the event is to motivate young women who are in the Bumb’ingomso leadership network to revive their dreams and to say they can dream and rise up again.
Amongst those who attended the event were five motivational speakers who shared their success stories, the stakeholders were the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) who was there to educate them about economic opportunities, NYDA, NDA, and Sefa.
“We have an exhibition after the talk as we want the youth to decide on what careers they want to do, we want them to listen, see and do”, said Ngesi.
Mdantsane born geologist Nosiphiwo Mzamo who is a manager of one of the world’s leading laboratories Mintek said, young women should not allow their circumstances to determine their future.
“Some of the challenges I faced in life was working in a male dominated industry where men doubted me”, said Mzamo.
Motivating the young women Naturopathic doctor Lydia Jaceni from Lady Frere who owns a health shop in Queenstown encouraged them to be goal-driven in order to achieve their dreams, she added that some of the challenges she faced were not having enough people or mentors in her field that she could look up to and having to educate people about her profession.
“What you believe about yourself is more important than what people say about you”, said Jaceni.
One of the attendees Zizipho Kori from Mdantsane said she learned a lot from the event, she learned about internships, learnerships, being able to stand on your own as a woman besides being employed. She added that she obtained information about how to search for jobs.