To many people, the table cluttered with a saw, spray guns, nails, gloves and a notepad might look like just another messy workspace.
But for Brenda Moduka, it is a symbol of opportunity and determination — a place where unemployed young people can begin building through skills development and enterprise support.
In a few weeks, the work station will be handed over to a new recruit, one of several candidates joining Atlega for Women Project Enterprise through its latest Seta-funded upholstery training programme.
For the company’s impact in tackling youth unemployment through skills development, Moduka, its owner and managing director, has been named this year’s business category winner in The Herald Citizens of the Year Awards, supported by Nelson Mandela University.
Seated in her North End office, furnished almost entirely with items crafted by former students from recycled materials such as tyres, Moduka said her business journey had always been about paying it forward.
“While another person looks at that desk and sees a mess, I get inspired, especially when I look at a product starting from nothing; it’s about what could be.
“I got my first job as a trainee [facilitator], a job that saved my life.
“My pastor’s wife is the one who got me my first job. If she had not done that, I would not be where I am today.
“Atlega is about paying it forward,” she said.
The company offers accredited vocational training in skills such as welding, sewing, upholstery, shoemaking and tyre manufacturing, while running upskilling programmes for companies funded through Seta-managed Skills Development Levy grants.
“Training them in the skills is only the first part; the second part is teaching them how to be entrepreneurs because I deeply believe that [as] unemployment rates are high ... we cannot [just] train people to be employed, but rather give them skills that will lead them to starting their own businesses,” Moduka said.
These skills include registration, management systems, tax compliance and introductions to funding agencies such as the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, National Youth Development Agency and Seda.
A cohort of Atlega trainees funded through merSeta (the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta) is now learning sewing.
Fungiswa Magingxa, 41, of Motherwell, who has been doing the course for the past three weeks, said it had been a life-changing experience.
“In 2019, I was in an accident and became disabled,” she said.
“Before that I was selling clothes, specialising in nurses’ gowns, and when there was a need for alterations, I would try to outsource that.
“That was always problematic because there were delays.
“This has been a dream come true.
“I wore a jacket I made here, and everyone saw it and got excited.
“I can now tell people if they want a jacket, they should come to me, and I even want to go back to the people I made alterations for and tell them to bring those items back so that I can make them perfect.”
Embracing the core philosophy that almost anything can be upcycled, Moduka has been steering the company towards training in future careers.
“We are accredited in teaching basic office, but we must teach programming here and pathways that will enable people to work in AI.
“We are also accredited to provide training in renewable energies which we do with MicroCare [stationed on the floor] above us.
“We bring the theory of training and development, and they bring the speciality of solar energy because there is a need for that,” she said.
Despite the lives she has helped change, Moduka said she would probably never have ventured into business in 2016 if she knew what it took to make it.
“I always say life is like a car with lights that only show you the part of the road in front of you; it does not show you the overall picture but what is happening in front of you.
“By going one step at a time, you remain positive until you are already through most of the journey.
“This was one of the toughest years. I do not think I would have survived the last seven months if God was not with me.
“Atlega means prosper. It’s about her, the woman renting, and through her skill ... buying a property. So she will prosper because of the impact I made in her life,” she said.
Moduka will be celebrated with other category winners at a glitzy honorary gala awards ceremony on September 19 at the Sun Boardwalk Convention Centre.
For queries or to book a spot at the gala awards, please contact The Herald’s marketing manager, Berna Ulay-Walters, on ulayb@theherald.co.za.
The event sponsors are: Co-title sponsors: Nelson Mandela University; Gold sponsor: Standard Bank; Silver sponsor: Spar; Bronze sponsor: Continental Tyre SA; Support partners: Vodacom, Three Peaks Wine and JTC Decor Events, Capsicum Culinary Studio; and venue sponsors: Sun Boardwalk.
The Herald
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