Absa Corporate and Investment Banking staff host an inspiring entrepreneurship event for LEAP students
Staff from the Absa Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) division recently hosted an inspiring and motivational entrepreneurship event for LEAP students from Alexandra, Ga-Rankuwa and Diepsloot.
The event was hosted at LEAP 4 in Diepsloot where the talented and outspoken LEAP student, Karabo Makgopela, did an incredible job as the MC for the day. The aim of the event was to teach LEAP learners about entrepreneurship, with the main objective being to inspire LEAP students by entrenching the message of self-belief and eradication of self-doubt.
Delivering an inspirational talk, Thabang Mokopanele, an award winning financial journalist spoke about his journey from financial and investment journalism to becoming a successful entrepreneur. His entrepreneurial journey has led him to be the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of SA’s premier real estate news website SA Property Insider, which profiles key players in the real estate industry and analyses issues in the sector.
Siya Xuza, the 25 year old scientist, spoke with passion and enthusiasm, and definitely touched the hearts and motivated the LEAP students. He spoke about his amazing, and truly inspiring, life journey. His story began, when as a young child, he almost set his mum’s kitchen on fire while trying to make homemade rocket fuel so that he could fly to Jupiter. After several years, and several failed attempts, he finally succeeded in creating rocket fuel. As a recent graduate of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, where he pioneered micro-fuel cells for mobile energy (distributed energy that can be used to power remote and rural areas), he has returned to South Africa. He is a young entrepreneur with a business that is focusing on developing energy-saving devices for cellphones, laptop computers and other devices. This will allow the devices to be charged simply by holding them in your hand with no need to connect them to a charger. His wisdom, passion and resilience were truly inspiring. The LEAP learners were astounded by his story.
The workshop ended with several CIB volunteers joining groups of students and speaking to them about entrepreneurship, leadership and careers in investment banking.
Thank you to CIB for providing LEAP with such inspiring motivational speakers and providing our students with great networking opportunities!
