Lubeni Sinoxolo was born and raised in the Eastern Cape of South  Africa,  in  a community where the concept of the Internet,  is seldom understood. When he moved to Masakhane nearly 10 years ago, he was introduced to this concept and taught  how to use computers in school. His passion for acquiring computer skills grew quickly and his mother bought him  a  laptop so that he could continue learning. Lubeni, however, was much more fortunate than most people in the township, who had little to no access to computers for school work and developing technical skills. Lubeni identified this problem and saw the opportunity to solve it by creating an Internet Café for the Masakhane community. When a local teacher  informed  Lubeni  of  the  Grootbos Foundation’s Careers, Employability, and Enterprise programme funded by Absa,  he  jumped  at  the  opportunity  to attend. “At the camp  there  were  a  lot of different people with different personalities. Being able to work alongside these people helped me to gain more knowledge that I could apply to my own business ideas. I was able to learn all of the small details that go into running a small business and working with the Grootbos Foundation helped me immensely.” Less than a year later, thanks to funding from Absa, Lubeni’s Internet Café is up and running in the Masakhane Township. Lubeni is at his Internet  café every day, providing not only Internet to his customers, but also assisting them in advancing their own computer skills. His main objective is to support his family as well as offer his community the opportunity to gain skills to become more employable. He hopes to become a qualified computer educator and teach children for free. He believes in the importance of  giving back to your community and hopes to continue helping students, like himself, in gaining the skills necessary to become employable and inspire them to accomplish their goals.

Lisa Welch

Public Relations, Communications: Grootbos Foundation

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