19 Jul 2018

Mentorship gives mentees reassurance that they will be successful, hence 47-year-old self-employed Ms Thandy Moremi has taken it upon her shoulders to mentor Ramotswa youth and guide them to their destinies.

Ms Moremi, whose contract with SADC ended in 2016, is an entrepreneur, who is all about building the youth to be able to fend for themselves through self-employment.

“I have always wanted to give back to the community and wondered how, then came an idea that since I am an entrepreneur then I should impart my skills and knowledge to the youth,” says Ms Moremi.

She helps Ramotswa youth with writing business plans, ideas of what business they can venture into and etiquette, as unprofessional behaviour is one of the factors that could kill a business.

She said her son’s plight, who was a graduate, but unemployed before taking on entrepreneurship, inspired her to encourage and help other graduates to be independent as well.

In an interview Mr Thato Tlhaselo, who is Ms Moremi’s personal assistant and mentee, said the mentorship sessions have sharpened his skills.

“I can now approach companies that I want to do business with, with confidence and I do not have to spend money finding people to help me with business plans,” says Mr Tlhaselo.

He said the sessions have opened his mind to how he can get an income and has started writing business plans for other people, adding that he also empowers other youth with the skills he has acquired from his mentor.

Ms Moremi does her mentorship sessions at her home as she does not have enough resources yet, which limits her to target only 50 youth.

She is confident that the initiative will help the youth start their own businesses, leading to a decrease in unemployment.

Ms Tumisang Moremi, who is also a mentee, says before she started attending the mentorship programme, her business was not doing well.

“I was not familiar with some of the important marketing strategies and pricing of my stock, these are the things that the mentor helped me with and I started seeing more clients being interested in buying,” says Ms Moremi, who sells clothes, shoes and handbags.

She said when she joined the programme, Ms Moremi blessed her with hand bags and shoes to sell for herself.

The mentees are responding positively to the sessions, they give them their utmost attention and ask questions where they need more enlightenment.

Ms Moremi says she will continue mentoring her mentees on different business topics, adding that her greatest wish is to find a place where she can accommodate more as the numbers are increasing.

“I encourage the retired to use their skills to empower the youth, if we all do this we can fight unemployment,” says Moremi. Ends