Free State Business 2020 edition
The 2020 edition of Free State Business is the 10th issue of this highly successful publication that, since its launch in 2008, has established itself as the premier business and investment guide for the Free State. The Free State Development Corporation describes its work, including property management and investment support in several articles in this journal. The official launch of the Maluti-A-Phofung Special Economic Zone (MAP-SEZ) was a significant event for the economy of South Africa’s most centrally located province. Business and industrial parks form part of the economic strategy of the province’s planners and details of these facilities are outlined in this journal. In addition, overviews on each of the key economic sectors provide up-to-date information on trends in the manufacturing and tourism sectors, for example. Regular information about the size and nature of each sector is also included. Updated information on the Free State is also available through our monthly e-newsletter, which you can subscribe to online at www.globalafricanetwork.com, in addition to our complementary business-to-business titles that cover all nine provinces as well as our flagship South African Business title. The printed journal is distributed internationally on outgoing and incoming trade missions, through trade and investment agencies; to foreign offices in South Africa’s main trading partners around the world; at top national and international events; through the offices of foreign representatives in South Africa; as well as nationally and regionally via chambers of commerce, tourism offices, airport lounges, provincial government departments, municipalities and companies.
The 2020 edition of Free State Business is the 10th issue of this highly successful publication that, since its launch in 2008, has established itself as the premier business and investment guide for the Free State.
The Free State Development Corporation describes its work, including property management and investment support in several articles in this journal.
The official launch of the Maluti-A-Phofung Special Economic Zone (MAP-SEZ) was a significant event for the economy of South Africa’s most centrally located province. Business and industrial parks form part of the economic strategy of the province’s planners and details of these facilities are outlined in this journal.
In addition, overviews on each of the key economic sectors provide up-to-date information on trends in the manufacturing and tourism sectors, for example. Regular information about the size and nature of each sector is also included.
Updated information on the Free State is also available through our monthly e-newsletter, which you can subscribe to online at www.globalafricanetwork.com, in addition to our complementary business-to-business titles that cover all nine provinces as well as our flagship South African Business title.
The printed journal is distributed internationally on outgoing and incoming trade missions, through trade and investment agencies; to foreign offices in South Africa’s main trading partners around the world; at top national and international events; through the offices of foreign representatives in South Africa; as well as nationally and regionally via chambers of commerce, tourism offices, airport lounges, provincial government departments, municipalities and companies.
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FOCUS<br />
Voorspoed Mine empowers youth<br />
Training programmes in the Fezile Dabi District Municipality are equipping<br />
young people with skills.<br />
Young people in the area around the Voorspoed Mine have opportunities to train in relevant skills.<br />
De Beers Voorspoed Mine<br />
has partnered with the<br />
Department of Labour<br />
and the National Youth<br />
Development Agency on a community<br />
development programme<br />
in the Fezile Dabi District to equip<br />
the young people in the area with<br />
skills in plumbing, welding and<br />
water treatment with the aim to<br />
strengthen their employability<br />
and boost economic development<br />
in the communities in which<br />
they reside.<br />
Since the programme’s<br />
inception in 2017, 64 trainees<br />
have successfully completed the<br />
programme, 40 of which were<br />
females and 24 males. This year,<br />
the programme intake comprises<br />
22 females out of a total of 28<br />
participants.<br />
In September 2019, Voorspoed<br />
Mine hosted 58 past and present trainees at an event aimed to uplift<br />
and encourage the youth to take the skills that they have acquired<br />
during the programme and put them to economic use.<br />
Thabo Mofokeng and Hope Moleleki, who completed the programme<br />
in 2017, shared their experience with the group and how the<br />
programme has transformed their lives. Both expressed their immense<br />
gratitude towards De Beers Group. Thabo, who started an apprenticeship<br />
in 2019, encouraged the group to work hard and to never give<br />
up. Hope shared that on completion of her programme, she applied<br />
for a job in welding. However, since she was a woman, her skills were<br />
questioned. She then decided to start her own small business instead<br />
and is now running her own steel and wood business.<br />
Upon listening to the trainees share their personal accounts of<br />
how De Beers Group has enriched their lives, an emotional Lungile<br />
Zimu, Voorspoed Mine Human Resource <strong>Business</strong> Partner, said,<br />
“I don’t cry easily, but this is what De Beers Group is all about, this<br />
is what excites me. Listening to these young people share how De<br />
Beers Group has changed their lives just affirms once again that<br />
I joined the right company.”<br />
PJ Jordaan, Voorspoed Mine Closure Manager, stated, “We have<br />
been running these programmes for 10 years and although we closed<br />
the mine in December 2018, we still have a commitment to the community,<br />
and we will not walk away until we are done.”<br />
39<br />
FREE STATE BUSINESS <strong>2020</strong>
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