Friday 12 March 2010

Today was the first time I’d seen 4:00am in a long time!

By 5:00am myself and Hanolet were on the road to Ratanda, we arrived just after six O’clock, and waited for the intakes to arrive. Today is their day, they’ll start their training!

The guys and girls started arriving and everyone was excited to be there, the man in charge of the buses transporting the people to and from Maccauvlei was a guy called Sipho Radebe….And it’s actually Lucas Radebes Nephew! Pretty cool.

Once everyone was loaded and ready to go we left the buses behind and went to Maccauvlei, it’s not a long drive but we had time to wake up and wonder how good the coffee would be. Very good was the answer! The guys from Ratanda registered and got their ‘school books’ and could relax for an hour while everything was set up, coffee,tea and muffins went around. Myself, Hanolet and Mondli said hi to the various big shots from Anglo-Zimele, Nedbank and Maccauvlei. We were just as excited as the learners to be there!

Hanolet introduced everyone with the opening speech, which put everyone at ease as they all knew her, she spoke about the programme a little and likened it to ‘starting a fire’, something that could spread and grow quickly! Hanolet got them started, then introduced them to Mr. Nick Van Rensburg from Anglo-Zimele, a division of Anglo-American, who explained the origins of the programme and the collaboration between Nedbank and Anglo as well as the service providers Neosho 119 and Maccauvlei, he went on to congratulate the entrepreneurs for getting this far and told them that ‘as the best of the best’ they now have to show their dedication and wished them all luck in the months to follow. He received a huge round of applause (especially after mentioning how ready he is to assist them with loans, should they complete the course successfully).

The atmosphere was positive, big things have been set in motion!

A slideshow of my photographs played in the background ( a big ‘hooray’ moment for me) while Facilitator Amareza Buys spoke on business creation and the aspects of such, she took the learners through the modules they would receive training in and then it was none other than Mondli Guma who took the floor! Mondli, you should all know by now, has played a huge part in our work so far and he had the task of explaining the contracts to our entrepreneurs! I was worried that this would be lost on the guys and that a few might not sign the contracts due to the strict terms, but Mr. Guma handled it perfectly, explaining the agreements in layman’s terms and even getting a laugh out of the crowd.

People looked a little worried when he mentioned that if they sign and then drop the course mid way they would be liable for the money Maccauvlei had spent on each individual, I was worried that some might not sign, when it finally came down to it there were a few questions, but everyone signed! Relief!!

Next up, guest speaker Zodwa Maleka, a woman who received funding from Anglo to start her business, spoke to our guys, the perfect person to assure and inspire our learners! They had a lot of questions from her loan payments to book keeping! After that we broke for ten minutes for some fresh air and coffee, when we returned, Annie Baptiste, finance facilitator from Nedbank said a few words on what she would be doing for the entrepreneurs over their training period.

Another facilitator Noreen Mcpherson took the people through their study ‘bibles’. After the basic runthrough of their modules we broke for an hours lunch, where myself, Hanolet and Mondli took the opportunity to mingle with the guys and girls and find out how they thought things where going, everyone seemed really impressed and excited for the things to come. We then took some time to prepare a rough press release for Monday, making sure everyone was mentioned and all the details up to this point were included. The classes continued for a while longer and the buses eventually came to pick everyone up! Thanks were given, the sessions ended and plans were made for the following training sessions, a huge thank-you to everyone involved, ANGLO-ZIMELE,NEDBANK,MACCAUVLEI and all the people who took the time to make this such a success!!

Next week Sharpeville starts their training, and after seeing how great everything went today we can’t wait to see how their session goes!!

All in all it was the perfect end to a long week!