Southern Africa Affiliates
Regional Overview
In a region ranging from forest and grassland to desert, mountains, and coast, Southern Africa has a vast array of cultures, languages, and heritage. Yet, in the midst of such grandeur and diversity, HIV/AIDS decimates the whole of Southern Africa with the highest infection and death rates in the world.
Partners Worldwide walks alongside people in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia to strengthen businesses and create jobs, yet all partnerships reflect the reality of HIV/AIDS. Each partnership utilizes an economic component that helps entrepreneurs and businesspeople leverage their gifts and strengths in order to reduce rates of HIV/AIDS through tools such as mentoring relationships, business training, and a sustainable business approach to overcome this epidemic.
South Africa - SAHAC
Soweto
Called to Walk Alongside - Living out the Calling: Makoekie Tsotetsi
As part of the nationwide movement to overcome HIV/AIDS, South African businesswoman Makoekie Tsotetsi has mentored dozens of young adults over the past four years.
As a local business affiliate of Partners Worldwide, Southern Africa HIV AIDS Collaboration (SAHAC) connects young people with mentors like Makoekie to help them create successful small businesses in the Soweto townships of Johannesburg—communities with HIV/AIDS prevalence rates of 25-30 percent and unemployment hovering at 65 percent.
“By mentoring them, we’re getting them back on track to make positive choices in life,” says Makoekie, who views job creation as a catalyst to fight HIV/AIDS. One of these mentees is Paballo Dibakoane, 28. As a young entrepreneur, Paballo completed a chemical engineering degree before he decided to enter the construction field. That’s when SAHAC set him up with business mentor Makoekie, who employs 40 others in her construction business in Johannesburg. “I’ve walked alongside him ever since he created his first business plan and began understanding the market. Now he runs a cooperative of construction workers!”
This year, business people within SAHAC have walked alongside 55 young adults through business mentorships in Soweto, where, according to Makoekie, business hardly exists. “Most often, these young people grow up on their own or in dysfunctional families. It’s more than an economic issue of poverty; it’s the social issues we need to understand in order to walk with them for the long haul.”
Investing time in others hits home for Makoekie. When she first launched her own construction company in 2005, she had no experience or education in the field. Through SAHAC, Partners Worldwide connected her with Paul Scholten, a business mentor in Michigan. Today, she is recognized as one of the most successful female entrepreneurs in the construction industry of South Africa.
“If I didn’t have Paul as a mentor throughout these years, I wouldn’t be where I am in business now. It’s essential to have someone walk alongside.”
Building relationships and walking alongside others takes a lot of patience and endurance, she says. But by sharing ideas, cheering others on, and bearing burdens together, business people throughout the world are fulfilling the call to walk alongside each other.
This story is taken from the
Partners Worldwide 2009/10 Annual Report.