16 Mar 2021

It is everyone’s dream to, one day, live a dignified life.

However, there is no doubt that the future for most unemployed youth who have worked hard to attain academic qualifications, hoping to secure a job after completing their tertiary education, is increasingly becoming bleak.

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not spared any country’s economy across the globe, has also worsened the ordeal.

With the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak now forcing some companies to either retrench, impose salary cuts, suspend some employees’ contracts, the hopes of unemployed youth are slowly getting shattered.

It is now becoming clear that times have drastically changed and gone are the days when securing a job after completion of tertiary education was a given.

Job security is slowly becoming a thing of the past, and this is the case even for people who are currently employed.

Academic qualifications are no longer a guarantee for employment.

As one of the biggest challenges that the government is faced with currently, youth unemployment is making the future of most youth uncertain, since the job market is also already saturated.

Matters worse, year after year, there is a new pool of graduates from various tertiary institutions across the country, adding to the already sky rocketing statistics of unemployment rate.

Given this scenario, one can tell that most young people will remain unemployed for quite some time, if they do not stand up and make an effort to explore other avenues of making a living, through government’s socio-economic programmes such as Youth Development Fund, Young Farmers Fund and Youth Empowerment Scheme.

Fortunately, despite these unprecedented times, some youth continue to defy the odds to realise their dreams and aspirations.

One of those youths is 28-years- old Ms Keneilwe Shoshong from Xhosa 1 ward in Mahalapye, who is currently making ends meet through a nails business that she operates at Mahalapye Bus Rank.

Due to lack of employment, after completing her Financial Management course at ABM College in 2014, Ms Shoshong decided to venture into her self-sponsored and self-taught nail business in 2015.

“This is a very lucrative business besides having many competitors.

But it requires patience and good customer service to lure customers and retain them,” said Ms Shoshong, adding that she intends to grow her business further.

Given her passion and how profitable the business is as she makes nothing less than P8 000 per month, Ms Shoshong intends to hold on to her business and grow it more.

As a one-stop shop for nail care, her business offers manicure, pedicure and a wide range of creative nail artistry such as nail polishing.

“Another thing that drives me is the fact that there are always ladies out there who want to look their best for events such as weddings, baby showers and just about any other event.

So, that alone keeps me motivated to carry on with my business as I know I will definitely continue getting customers, one way or the other,” she says with a smile.

Besides other challenges brought about by the outbreak of COVID-19 such as movement restrictions, Ms Shoshong has strategically decided to operate her business in an open space at the bus rank to cut costs on rentals as well as capitalise on a wide range of customers at the rank.

She has also opened a Facebook page to lure other customers residing outside Mahalapye.

Ms Shoshong’s advice to unemployed youth is for them to stand up and do something while they can and persevere through all challenges they may come across.

Another youth, is 26-years- old Ms Kgomotso Sephikwe of Thomadithotse ward in Mahalapye, who is selling hand made wigs at Mahalapye Bus Rank.

Also as a self-taught hair wigs designer, Ms Sephikwe intends to grow her business further, given how empowering and rewarding it has been to her.

Sharing her story of where she derives the passion for designing hair wigs, the mother of three recounts how she ventured into the business after having to survive on the goodwill of her parents for a long time.

“I was really tired of being broke and having to request for money from my parents whenever I needed to buy myself basic necessities,” she notes.

After completing her Form Two at Maikano Junior Secondary School in 2010, Ms Sephikwe started selling sweets from home and also worked for Ipelegeng.

The two could not generate enough money for her to take care of herself and her three children and thus forced her to think hard about what direction to take.

 It is then that she came up with the idea of designing wigs for sale, a small business venture that she then started operating at the bus rank in 2019.

“It was not easy to always rely on my mother for money each time I wanted to buy something for myself.

Again, the fact that time doesn’t wait for anyone also forced me to stand up and do something in order to take care of my three children,” she explains.

“It doesn’t matter if what you are doing does not generate a lot of income at the beginning, just be patient, because it’s much better than waiting around for a job you may never find,” Ms Sephikwe advised other unemployed youths..  ENDS