She Leads Africa

[bctt tweet=”From tourism to making furniture to working with kids, here is Randy Mampuru’s story” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]

When Randy Mampuru completed her matric in 2010, she decided to take a gap year in 2011 because she wasn’t sure of what to study in university. When she found that being broke didn’t work for her, Randy got herself a job doing promotions. That is when she came across the Raymond Ackerman Academy for Business Skills and Entrepreneurial Development offered at UJ Soweto Campus. Randy did that for the rest of 2011, then enrolled with the Gauteng Travel Academy in 2012 for a certificate in tourism.

In 2013, Randy was given the opportunity to be travel consultant at one of the biggest travel agencies in South Africa Travel with flair. She worked there for few months but didn’t like it so left to pursue her studies in project management. Then in 2014, while Randy was studying from home, she got into a furniture manufacturing business.

Randy Mampuru started making pallet-inspired furniture from her mother’s back yard. The business grew, eventually making it to the furntech incubation centre where she was given space and machinery. It was around the same time Randy started Kidz Hub.


After taking a gap year to decide what to study, why tourism?

In high school I studied tourism as a subject, which is where I fell in love with it. During my gap year, I figured out that I wanted to travel the world.

I needed to get into career that could allow me to travel, and tourism was industry that I had to get into in order to travel.

What does self-employment mean to you?

It means being able to work on my dream and vision; making it a reality while serving and helping people and making sure that the next generation’s future is successful.

kidz-hubTell us about Kidz Hub, what inspired Kidz Hub?

Kidz Hub is an organisation that pays attention to kids personal development, while taking the academic route and a holistic approach. We are all about instilling life time skills practically and actively so. We save R2 everyday towards our writing utensils and books. Now think about it, a 7year old saving R2 everyday…there’s a lot that goes into that. When they put it upon themselves to save the R2,that’s commitment. It also shows consistency.

They don’t buy snacks along the way and that’s sacrifice. Not forgetting that this kid is taking in leadership, initiative, responsibility while also learning the financial management skill. We identified that many kids didn’t have anyone assisting them with their homework. So we decided to create a space were kids can come in and do their homework. That space was first my mothers kitchen, we then moved to the garage where I build a table and benches since I was in the furniture manufacturing industry.

Currently, we have three branches and 33 kids signed up. We are also receiving assistance from former matriculants and varsity students who come and help voluntarily. This is fuelled by my personal vision which is; “To see the work that I do, the contributions that I make and the purpose that I serve having lasting effect on humanity”.

[bctt tweet=”Randy Mampuru wants to see that the work she does has a lasting effect on humanity ” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]

Why kids?

I love kids. Kids are very genuine, honest and free. They show so much life and they make one look forward to life.

So I wanted to contribute towards their future to make sure they do not fall prey to what society portrays as how life should be.

Do you feel kids should be sheltered from unhappiness?

No I don’t think so. I feel that unhappiness is one of the feelings that will always be apart of our lives. It is triggered by failure and disappointment which are the two most important feelings that one goes through.

Both feelings are necessary to recognising one’s abilities towards what they want to achieve, whether it is academic, personal or financial.

randy-mampuru-1

What cheers you up?

Gospel and house music, dancing, good food; basically good vibes.

Who is your hero, why?

My parents are my heroes. They are my heroes because of their tremendous support. I don’t think I would be where I am now if was not for their support.


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