21 YEAR OLD WSU STUDENT CREATES EMPLOYMENT FOR HIS COMMUNITY

Being employed is not an option for the 21-year old Faculty of Natural Sciences student who has passion for science and agriculture.

Buzwe Dlembula, a Bachelor of Science in Physics third year student recently started his farming project and has employed six people from his village. “My passion for farming was influenced by my grandparents. They loved their garden and used to send me to assist them all the time until I fell in love with it,” said Dlembula.

Dlembula who comes from Mount Ayliff saw a farming space in his village and asked the owners to use it to start his farming project. “Unemployment is very high in my community, I decided to use my passion to help the community especially young people who have nothing to do.”

Currently the farming project that started in November 2021 has employed six young people but has a target of employing 30 people. Dlembula is self-funded and uses his other side hustle income to pay salaries of his six staff members and to buy the tools for farming.

“I have a tutoring company where I tutor Physical Sciences in high schools. My company has grown to a point that I get calls to come and tutor, not the other way around, and that has helped me with funds to start the farming project,” added Dlembula.

The project aims to supply the community with home grown vegetables but in the long run aims to supply supermarkets as well. “With the high unemployment rate in the country, I have no plans of being employed but want to create employment for my people with all the skills I have. Next on the pipeline is to start my own science school and take the tutoring to greater heights,” said Dlembula.

Dlembula plans to utilise the services offered by the Centre for Entrepreneurship Rapid Incubator (CfERI) to grow both his businesses.

By Anita Roji