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Tunnel
W
elile Gumede’s story reads like a movie script. Armed with a tertiary qualification in chemical engineering, she searched in vain for an internship to complete her practical training, but couldn’t find any business that would take her on. She returned to her home in the rural area of Ilembe disappointed but not defeated. Determined not to have to rely solely on a government grant to support herself and her baby daughter, Welile started looking for opportunities in her immediate surroundings in Maphumulo. “I could not just accept that I didn’t have a job, so set about identifying problems in my community that needed to be addressed. I
VISION
MEET WELILE GUMEDE – A YOUNG WOMAN WITH AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT WHO HAS TRANSFORMED UNUSED AGRICULTURAL SPACES IN HER COMMUNITY INTO A THRIVING BUSINESS, WRITES CANDICE BOTHA of Commerce and used her winnings as start-up capital to restore eight abandoned tunnels to working order to grow tomatoes, and began cultivating cabbages in an open field. This was in 2018, and the project has grown with Welile and her team of
13 permanent employees cultivating a variety of crops including tomatoes, peppers and cabbages for sale in Ballito, Stanger and surrounding areas on the eight-hectare farm. She employs temporary staff over the harvest time and is proud of the hope she sees her
My aim was to create revenue, youth employment and community upliftment … to provide opportunities not only for myself, but for other young people” realised there was a lot of formerly cultivated agricultural land in the area which was no longer being utilised, including several greenhouse tunnels,” she explains. Welile investigated whether she would be able to use the land and tunnels, and after drafting proposals was granted permission. “My aim was to create revenue, youth employment and community upliftment, and I set up Azowel Projects to provide opportunities not only for myself, but for other young people. And so started my journey to revive these spaces.” She entered an entrepreneurship competition at the Ilembe Chamber
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