UJ graduates breakfast at Ditshego Media

Ditshego Media hosted a graduate networking breakfast recently for UJ graduates and I was privileged to have attended this event. Tebogo Ditshego, the CEO and founder of Ditshego Media, invited UJ graduates for a networking breakfast which not only served as a means to campaign for his election for the Exececutive Committee of University of Johannesburg Convocation, but also as an opportunity to inspire the next generation of leaders.

The Keynote speaker of the day, Tebogo Ditshego, spoke profoundly about what inspired his pursuit to join the university’s committee and I couldn’t have been more inspired, as a recent graduate myself, that his mandate was most importantly focused on recent graduates – the mandate is as follows:

· Enhancing the reputation of the university

· Reducing UJ graduate unemployment

· Developing mutually beneficial relationships between Alumni and University

· Increasing accountability

· Promoting community engagement through active citizenship of UJ graduates

Also adding that as an African nation we are rich but we don’t know it because of our lack of knowledge on things that have a great impact on our future as a nation –“we are poor because we are not educated properly. We need to revolutionise our education system”

Tebogo also spoke on his journey starting up his boutique agency and how his main drive was to change his situation for the better. He spoke on how his first attempt at an agency had failed in the first 6 months and how that didn’t stop him from achieving his goals, instead it inspired to try again and to try better, saying “just because you are the only one who believes in an idea, it doesn’t mean you should look down on it” – serving as a reminder that failure is not the end-all, instead it is only the beginning of a learning experience. And that truly inspired me to want to grab the bull by the horns.

“The purpose of culture is creativity and survival; you must create to survive” – this is one of my favourite quotes that was said by Mr Ditshego as he spoke on the importance of culture and how it links to creativity and success. He spoke on how most successful people are successful because they are uniquely themselves, he used Sho Majozi as an explain to reiterate his point by saying that the reason behind her success was because she is herself, on an international stage she speaks her mother tongue and in her artistry she uses her mother tongue as well as her culture, this is the secret to success, “Be yourself because no one can be a better you than you”. He also emphasized on the importance of identifying when a part culture no longer serves your purpose and how you should change it – “if something in your culture doesn’t serve you, you must let it go” is the quotable saying which came with this part of the speech.

The CEO of Ditshego Media went on to share with us his future plans as he ventures into the UJ Committee. These plans focus mostly on tackling unemployment by means of constantly ensuring the efforts to place graduates in employment and developing their skills and thought processes through integrated programmes which help with basic skills such as CV writing, computer skills and so forth.

There was also a Q&A session which proved that the young minds that were all ready to learn and absorb all the knowledge that Tebogo had to give. It was not a coincidence but the people that this invite had reached, were just as ready to hear from Tebogo as he was for them (for us).

I was like a toddler in a candy store- picking up all the knowledge Tebogo had shared with us. I left the offices of Ditshego Media with a bag full of knowledge, confidence and drive to do and be better. There was much more he spoke about and many sayings I could quote by this remarkable man, but the main observation I gathered from this Want to add a caption to this image? Click the Settings icon. session is that Tebogo Ditshego is a man who has a clear vision which is focused on us - the youth, which not only aims to reduce unemployment for his fellow alumni but also to educate the youth and to give us a voice that not only serves but is also strong enough to lead.

I would like to thank Tebogo Ditshego for inviting us to Ditshego media not only to network with our fellow colleagues and to hear out his aims and future plans for the graduates and students of UJ, but also for sharing his wisdom and experiences with us in a way that has inspired us to be brave and take what is ours, in a way that also reflects who we are as a people and individuals. And to UJ alumni i would like to encourage you to take the time to check out Tebogo's twitter feed @TebogoDitshego @DitshegoMedia just to get more information on the campaigning that will be happening around the campuses, so you can hear it for yourselves.

Graduates and students at the graduates breakfast