MATOBOGE'S SUCCESS STORY
11 Oct 2004
When Matoboge Nano left his dusty village of Bela-Bela in the North West Province to enrol for a Young Agri-Business Entrepreneurial Development Programme (YAEDP) in Pretoria, run by the National Emergent Red Meat Producer's Organisation (NERPO) and Umsobomvu Youth Fund, little did he know that the qualification wouild lead him to a deal with Lonmin.
He signed up for the programme, which runs over 12 months, and today he's a proud managing farmer of one of the farms belonging to Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum, producer.
All this thanks to NERPO and his sheer determination. Nano manages a farm that specialises in poultry, vegetables and crop production. The farm's produce is destined for Lonmin's three mines based in the North West: Eastern Platinum, Western Platinum and Karee Mine.
Lonmin uses the produce for its mining catering services and the company sells the food in its canteens for employees residing in the mining hostels.
"Nano is our inspiration. His achievement encourages us. We often invite him to deliver talks to the students" says Charles Siphugu, training manager at NERPO.
This article has been extracted from the South African Youth Card Magazine (Youth Publication of the Umsobomvu Youth Fund) |
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