Using nature to uplift youth

[caption id="attachment_36328" align="alignright" width="300"] MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Pinky Kondlo looks forward to the BWASA regional awards event tomorrow night. Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN[/caption]

WITH a heart of gold, inspiring leader Pinky Kondlo has seen her hard work pay off – a Business Women's Association of South Africa (BWASA) award nomination is just another great milestone for her.

The 34-year-old Mount Croix mother of two is one of three finalists in this year's BWA Regional Business Achiever Awards in the social entrepreneur category, for conceptualising the Siyazenzela Livelihoods programme, among her other work at the Wilderness Foundation.

"It [the nomination] really does mark quite a milestone in one's career. It is one of those great things you don't just expect!" she said in an interview with La Femme.

The Wilderness Foundation is a project-driven NGO that focuses on conservation and leadership programmes to uplift young people, protect wilderness areas, and stimulate an environmental ethos.

Currently the director of social programmes, Kondlo started as head of Umzi Wethu social intervention academy which focuses on training vulnerable youth to become chefs and waitrons.

"Our mandate acknowledges the mutual dependency between nature conservation and human beings. All our social intervention programmes have a nature element."

She said part of her job was to empower young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with skills, through environmental leadership programmes, that could help increase their employability chances.

In 2011, Kondlo birthed a feeder programme for Umzi Wethu, Siyazenzela Livelihoods programme, which grooms young people with "soft skills, including employability, leadership and personal growth".

Since its inception, the project has trained 300 young people, 60% of whom have obtained placement in the job market. Those keen to work in the hospitality industry get automatic entry to Umzi Wethu.

With a broader reach than Umzi Wethu, Siyazenzela not only caters for disadvantaged youngsters who have passed matric, but a six-week programme is also offered to unemployed, eager youngsters between the ages 18 and 35.

Talking about the nomination and making it to the final stages of the competition that culminates in a gala dinner tomorrow night she said: "Though I was quite reluctant at first, making it this far has been quite re- assuring."

Having been nominated by a colleague, Kondlo said the process was very intimidating at the beginning.

"I was not sure I solely deserved such recognition as I work with a team of very talented and skilled individuals.

The MBA graduate has dedicated about 11 years to a career that serves the needs of the previously disadvantaged.

No stranger to adversity herself, Kondlo recollected growing up with her grandmother in an impoverished Tsomo village, in the Transkei area, which she said had greatly influenced her decision to study psychology, at the then Vista University (now NMMU) in her late teens. "My village people were close-knit and everyone shared whatever they had.

"I was equally amazed by the extent of resilience people in my community had, so I made a conscious decision that I would become a social worker and help make a difference in the lives of others one day."

When her dream of becoming a social worker did not suffice, Kondlo opted for her second choice, psychology.

A defining moment for this young achiever came during her internship year, when she worked at a Zwide charity, the Ubuntu Education Fund.

"I really began to love my career. It resonated with my values. An absolutely defining moment that not only connected me to my purpose, but effectively launched my career."

• Further information on The Wilderness Foundation's Siyazenzela Livelihoods programme can be obtained from Lwazi at or on (041)374-0746. - Balisa Ntloko