DUCT Rivers

Entrepreneurship is not easy, it is not for the faint-hearted. In this journey, people start, some face stumbling blocks and quit, some start and life happens.

In the GL2E programme, Envirochamps were trained and encouraged to take part in the courses provided on starting businesses.

Today, we are proud to share that the initiative has helped 140 individuals establish businesses.

Today, we are not celebrating how much return they make; we are celebrating their courage to start and the tenacity to hold on against all the winds.

Congratulations mabhoza. Akusabhekwa emuva.🤟🏾🤟🏾

“Ungalibukeli phansi uhlelo. Ungakhululeki ukuhlala ungenzi lutho. Thatha noma iliphi ithuba elizayo ukhule ngalo. Kunokuqeqeshwa okunosizo olukhulu laphana.”
Kusho uSharon Thusi, kwintsha yezwe lethu.

Meet Sharon Thusi, iphanta.🤟🏾

She is Business Management graduate from Pietermaritzburg. She also trained as a Care Giver in First Aid and Counselling. She additionally has a PSIRA CDE security certificate.

While waiting for her professional breakthrough, she joined the Green Learn to Earn programme.

She got her hands dirty in Agroecology, learned River Monitoring and built skills in NYRI & Digital Influence.
Sharon went from tending a small food garden… to becoming a Team leader.

“I gained more entrepreneurial skills here than I did in my degree, now I see talent in other youth and I want to help them grow under my guidance.”

We can’t change where we come from. But our future is our responsibility. One skill, one step at a time.

We’re less than 2 months away from closing the chapter on our current Social Employment Fund X Green Learn 2 Earn pilot programme.

We were introduced to people from different worlds, all working toward one common goal: to improve their livelihoods.

Did we get every aspect of the programme right? Absolutely not. One challenge came after another. But did we give up? No!!

We understand that this work is bigger than us. It’s about the environment, the 1,000 people entrusted to be its custodians and the communities they live in.

Serving in different locations and doing different activities, all for one goal: greening the environment!!
So we say HATS OFF to all the envirochamps who stuck it through, even when the odds were against them.

Every training attended, every course completed, and every target achieved: that was all you. You did this.

Are we willing to give it another shot?
Most definitely!!

Asiyeki ukuzama!!💪🏾🌻