Kings and queens! Cohorts from all corners of South Africa! Welcome to the first ever Umuzi Alumni emailer. For a long time, we have been wondering what more we could do to connect with our alumni, to add value to them, to bring them closer together, and this is part of that. This newsletter will highlight some outstanding things the people in our network are doing. This year, we will also reach the incredible milestone of having 1000 Alumni in South Africa alone! That's right, you are part of a network that now has over 1000 high-value young people in it. We aim to inform, delight and add value to you. So welcome to everyone, from cohort 0, all the way to cohort 30 — this is going to be fun. So what's in this newsletter? We are going to profile some Alumni doing cool things, share opportunities like this month’s financial wellness training, give you cool things to read, watch and listen to; update you on Umuzi news and basically try to be a source of radical, uplifting content every month. If you have any suggestions of things we could do to make this even cooler, please let us know; we are all ears. So without further ado, let's do this!
Radical Alumni
Each month we are going to profile some radical Alumni, what they are doing, where they are working and some interesting BTS of their journey.
Alumni profile:
Nqobile Mkhonza - Cohort 11 Multimedia
Current Position: Art Director @ VMLY&R
"One of the most memorable moments at Umuzi was when my team and I entered the 48 Hour Film Project.
Our short got screened at Ster-Kinekor, seeing something I worked on the big screen gave me all the confidence I needed in believing."
Bonginkosi Khoza - Cohort 8 Multimedia
Current Position: Actor on The Wife
"Learning the craft of production, shooting and editing made me a better actor"
Bonko has just landed the lead role in the much anticipated "The Wife" on showmax
Based on the Dudu busani-Dube's famous books, Hlomu the Wife series. Check out the article below.
Movers & Shakers
Have you been promoted? Or changed jobs recently? Congrats if you have. You join these amazing Alumni who have moved on up in their careers. Every month we will be profiling Umuzi Alumni movers and shakers. Please let us know below if you are one of those amazing humans who's doing great things.
Dimpho Mashile - C14 Data Analyst
New Job: @ VMLY& R
Singita Ngobeni - C16 Data Analyst
New Job:@ Cur8
Prince Bvuma - C10 UI Designer
New Job: Lerato Agency
Manelisa Madini - C22 Web Developer
New Job: Glo Lighting
Where are you in the world?
We want to know how things are going with you. Employers often reach out to Umuzi to ask if we can connect them with experienced talent. That could be your next break. We have built a system that helps us keep track of all the amazing things that you are up to. It's a self-service platform that allows you to update your professional profile, as well as let us know if you are looking for a job opportunity. If that's you and you're interested in your next step - we can help you find it.
Alumni Events
If you are hosting an interesting event (or exhibition, product launch or hackathon) or participating in one, let us know and we will blast it out to our community here.
Umuzi News
Umuzi has gone through so many changes in the last little while that it's hard to keep up. It’s safe to say there are many cool things happening, and going forward, we will try to regularly highlight one or two things that we are really excited about. Today, there are 3 main things to shout about! Firstly, Umuzi is now offering its programmes across the continent. Yes, you heard right, Umuzi has gone continental. In partnership with Google and UNICEF, Umuzi is now offering digital programmes in Kenya and Nigeria. We have 500 young people from across the continent, learning, growing and enabling their potential… For more info on this, click here: African Coding Network.
Secondly, Umuzi is now a completely remote organisation. I'm sure most of you have heard this via the grapevine. When the pandemic hit, we decided to ring the last bell at our studio in Jeppestown and send everybody home to keep learning. It was a huge loss as there were so many amazing memories, friendships, and moments built into those brick walls, over delicious chips and kotas. But the future is exciting! We can now offer, basically anyone from anywhere, the opportunity to learn with us from their homes. It's been so cool getting to know all the recruits, seeing their homes and adding their locations to our map. This also means that there are some exciting opportunities for Alumni to continue learning with Umuzi. More to come on this in the next few months.
Lastly, we have launched a little Alumni website for you. Here you can catch up on all the news of your peers, Umuzi, job opportunities, reskilling opportunities and a lot more. As with everything Umuzi, we are continually iterating, so check out the site and if you have any suggestions, or if you want to contribute, please get in touch. Together, we make Umuzi better.
We continue to try to add value to our Alunni in a number of different ways. This month we have a radical opportunity with our partner organisation WORTH. Worth provides financial wellness programmes to people at the beginning of their working journeys, and we are extending this opportunity to Umuzi Alumni. We really believe full enablement of your potential means taking control of your financial wellness. No matter where you are on that journey — in debt or a superstar investor — this programme will add a lot of value to you. If you are interested, there is a kick-off meeting on the 28th Oct at 5:00pm. Please sign up to the kick-off meeting with the link. All programmes are remote and can be done in your own time.
Recommended Reading: Which of these 6 time traps is eating up all your time?
There is an 8 out of 10 chance that you are one of the poorest people in the world. However, when I say you’re poor, I’m not talking about your bank account. This article explores how time poor we are.
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