Sharing success stories and motivating each another was the concept behind the Student Development Seminar held on Thursday (2 October 2014) at the Cane Growers Hall, DUT ML Sultan Campus.

Titled: Business Talk, the event was co-ordinated by the DUT PR Association in partnership with UvoLwethu Communications, a student owned public relations consultancy.

Mandilakhe Nompehle, a third-year Public Relations Management student at DUT, opened the event by encouraging students to read. “The first step to success is reading. Knowledge is the most powerful weapon in the world”, he said. Nompehle listed top business and motivation books students should read, such as the controversial Capitalist Nigger by Chika Onyeani, which talks about African people and their tendency of blaming other races for their failures, lack of ambition and fear of responsibility. The book also motivates people to be “go getters”.

Among the guest at the event was former DUT student and South Africa’s youngest millionaire Sandile Shezi, who rose to fame as the MD (Managing Director) and founder of Global Forex Institute, a foreign exchange and trading company.

The 22-year-old gave essential tips to the budding entrepreneurs on how to achieve financial freedom. “The road to financial freedom is never easy. You have to want success as much as you want to breathe”, he said. Shezi also stressed the importance of investing and thinking ahead, along with other pointers on how to accomplish one’s goals.

Mfundo Shozi, a student at DUT and author of the upcoming book Dream Catcher shared personal challenges he has encountered in his life which he overcame through his desire for a bright and positive future.

-Talent Buthelezi

Pictured from left: Sphiwe Mthetwa, UvoLwethu Communications CEO; Neliswa Makhaza, UvoLwethu Communications COO; Mfundo Shozi, UvoLwethu Communications Founder and MD; Sandile Shezi, Global Forex Institute Founder and MD and Mandilakhe Nompehle, entrepreneur and intern at SAfm.