Change Conversations with Mpume

Youth Conversations Series: Woman in Photography with Nomhle Selesho

In our episode today, I have a chat with Nomhle Selesho as we continue with our youth month conversation series. She runs her own photography company, she is a video editor and photographer.

She made the decision to follow an entrepreneurial path because she has always been exposed to the business world. Her parents are both entrepreneurs, so she never really considered work in the traditional sense of showing up at a job and working from 9 to 5. For her, work is running your own business. She acknowledges that photography was not on her radar, the idea was to pursue photography as a side gig, while she studied law.

She shares that the challenge is that photography is a male-dominated industry, and because she is a female and a young one at that, she thinks she must establish her credibility. She now holds her head high while working and has learned to stop trying to prove herself.

Her vision is to own a media house that will incorporate, film, design, advertising, and all things media related.  She encourages young people to chase their passion and see how it can sustain them financially. She firmly believes in having your own business and discourages young people from having a mindset of getting educated and having a 9-5 job as their end goal. Her current target market includes events such as- birthday parties, baby showers, corporate events, and individual profiles.

 

Connect with Nomhle

N.Media_ Instagram

nomhleselesho @gmail.com

 

Connect with me

IG & Facebook: Conversations with Mpume

Website: www.changeconversations.co.za

Youth Conversations Series: A Career in Zoology with Mpho

In this final installment of our youth month series, I speak to Mpho a young bubbly lady full of life, who hails from Limpopo. Growing up she thought she would be a medical doctor, so everything she did was inspired by that desire until the dream was shattered by her not doing so well in her first year of BSC.  Upon failing she managed to pass life sciences and was allowed to register for the 2nd-year zoology module where she did exceptionally well one of her professors took notice and gave her an opportunity to work with postgrad students in the lab. Zoology then grew. Mpho specializes in bird physiology.  She says Zoology is quite broad, within each class of animals, there are different elements, for example, ecology, physiology, and biochemistry you just need to know what resonates with you.  At the moment works as a curator of birds overseeing the collection of birds in a museum, that are preserved by National Biodiversity. For more on this interesting topic, tune in.

 

Connect with me:

IG & Youtube: Conversations with Mpume

Website: www.conversationswithmpume.co.za

Youth Conversations Series: Running Unique Businesses with Lali

In today’s episode, I had a chat with Lali in commemoration of Youth Month in June. I enjoyed having these conversations with the younger generation because there was so much to learn from them.

Noxolo, aka Lali Nkunzi is a young lady from Soweto who is taking a gap year. She took a gap year after being rejected by the universities she applied to, only to be accepted by University of Pretoria for 2023. She then decided to find something she could do in the meantime, to avoid idling at home. She thinks her being away from home will aid in her personal growth, as she believes that there is no development when you are in your comfort zone. Being away from home teaches you certain disciplines about life such as independence, self-reliance, and ways to survive.

Lali runs a Crochet Business, where she makes beanies, scarves, crop tops, and hopes to introduce jerseys in future. She started her business in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. She used money she made from braiding people’s hair to start her crocheting business. She taught herself how to crochet by watching videos on YouTube. Quite an unusual trade for a young person in 2022… But Lali says, she felt not enough young people are making hand made stuff, it’s a foreign concept as most young people think it’s boring and it’s something that one would associate with old people. Her advice, she says take risks, and trust your instincts. She says you must be explorative, there are so many options out there. Tune in for more on this insightful and inspiring conversation with a young mind.

 

Connect with me

IG & Facebook: Conversations with Mpume

Website: www. changeconversations.co.za

Youth Conversations Series: Youth and Property Investing with Dr. Miranda Moloto

Disclaimer: Any information being shared here is not intended nor does it constitute, financial, tax,  legal investments, or other advice. Before making any decision or taking any action regarding your finances, you should seek advice from a qualified financial advisor.

In this week’s episode, I speak to Dr. Miranda Moloto, who is adept at property investments. She is a mom, a doctor, a property investment mentor as well as a podcaster on Propdocmom, and co-founder of Property Magicians.

In our conversation, we speak about how you can start a Property Portfolio, as a young person. Dr. Miranda demystifies the myth that says for one to afford to buy property, they need to save up a lot of money. Not necessarily, she says. There are a lot of ways that one can look to start investing in property. Ways that don’t involve transfer fees, legal fees, and all other expenses that come with property investing. Some of these ways one can consider include wholesaling property whereby an unregistered estate agent finds a property on sale and finds a buyer at a commission, or you can become a real estate agent through one of the big estate companies where you pay annual fees and get trained and taught all about property, negotiation skills, bank applications etc. Dr. Miranda shares that the training you get from these estate companies far exceeds the education on property that a traditional school would normally teach. Miranda says that you can start even if you don’t have money, as a young person fresh out of university, you can start investing in property rather than spend your money on temporary gratification, you can look at easy Equities with some of the banks, and other places will even pay dividends every three months. You can research and join Property Stokvels where you pay minimum amounts like R300, and R1000.  Tune in for more on how to invest in property as youth with as little money as possible.

 

Connect with Dr. Miranda

LinkedIn: Dr Miranda Moloto

Facebook: Propdocmom

Instagram: drmiranda_propdocmom

Connect with Me:

IG & Facebook: Conversations with Mpume

YouTube: Conversations with Mpume
Website: www.changeconversations.co.za

Let’s talk about Mental Health -with Phumzile Langa-Dube

Today on Change Conversations, I speak with Phumzile Langa-Gumbi, a psychology, as well as a speech and drama alumnus. Phumzile was a talent scout at the Playhouse where she worked with many artists. Later, she ventured into human resources, where she was in charge of executive placement, training, talent management, and policy formulation dealing with employees. She has dabbled in everything from cooking to copywriting, and the list goes on and on.

In our episode today, we speak about mental health, Phumzile talks about how she believes in the adage “a healthy people, means a healthy nation.” Phumzile says we are a traumatic and traumatized people who shy away from addressing the root causes of this monster called mental health. As a nation, we have a culture of entitlement and waiting for someone to come and help us…rather than being empowered. She defines mental health is finding balance in the way of our life across the wheel of life. What is important for her is to have people unlearn certain things that are not working, secondly, as far as mental health is concerned,  let’s start talking about mental health and be as real as possible.

 

Connect with Phumzile:

Facebook: Phumzile.Langa.5

IG:@PhumiGumbi

E:gumbiphumi@gmail.com

Connect with me:

IG & Facebook: @Change Conversations with Mpumi

YouTube: Change Conversations with Mpumi

www.changeconversations.co.za

Leadership Series. Ep 2: What does it mean to be a good leader with Brian Mthembi

In our episode today, I have a conversation with Brian Mthembi, who is an organisational performance strategist, a Founder and MD of BMC, a consulting firm that focuses on leadership, customer service and strategy. Brian works to solve why other companies thrive while others fail given the same factors, eg talent pool, legislation and same customers. He believes that the answer lies in leadership. He believes leaders breed good employees, and he's about customers and leadership coming together for the benefit of all the parties involved. His career journey spans across different industries - financial, hospitality and travel and he has held positions that gave him a broader perspective into what leadership entails. He studied Industrial Business Psychology from UNISA as he's always been passionate about business and people. Brian says the definition of leadership is broad and relative, but for him, he defines leadership as the courage to influence change towards a desired vision. According to Brian, a leader should have the ability to help people see the future from a different perspective. 

Connect with Brian:

IG & FB: @brian mthembi

Twitter:   @brian mthembi

Email: info@brianmthembi.co.za

Website: www.brianmthembi.co.za

Connect with me:

IG & FB: @Conversations with Mpume

Website: changeconversations.co.za

Leadership Series. Ep 2: What does it mean to be a good leader with Brian Mthembi

In our episode today, I have a conversation with Brian Mthembi, who is an organisational performance strategist, a Founder and MD of BMC, a consulting firm that focuses on leadership, customer service and strategy. Brian works to solve why other companies thrive while others fail given the same factors, eg talent pool, legislation and same customers. He believes that the answer lies in leadership. He believes leaders breed good employees, and he's about customers and leadership coming together for the benefit of all the parties involved. His career journey spans across different industries - financial, hospitality and travel and he has held positions that gave him a broader perspective into what leadership entails. He studied Industrial Business Psychology from UNISA as he's always been passionate about business and people. Brian says the definition of leadership is broad and relative, but for him, he defines leadership as the courage to influence change towards a desired vision. According to Brian, a leader should have the ability to help people see the future from a different perspective. 

Connect with Brian:

IG & FB: @brian mthembi

Twitter:   @brian mthembi

Email: info@brianmthembi.co.za

Website: www.brianmthembi.co.za

Connect with me:

IG & FB: @Conversations with Mpume

Website: changeconversations.co.za

Leadership Series. Ep.1: What does being a good leader mean? with Dr. Thembi Xulu

In today’s episode, I have a chat with Dr. Thembi Xulu, a Medical doctor , and a public health professional by training. She holds a diploma in obstetrics and another one in HIV/AIDS medicine, this was driven by the love that HIV shouldn't be transferred to unborn babies by their mothers. She studied a Master’s in public health and management. She joined the board of directors at the age 30, and she went to the Institute of Directors to equip herself. She is a special kind of Dr who is skilled in governance in the non-profit sector. She is currently the CEO of the South African National AIDS Council, as well as the Chairperson of the South Africa Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism.

Our conversation today is around leadership and for Dr. Thandi leadership is a blessing that was given to her and allows her to build, grow and create other leaders. This means she has to create an environment that enables others to emerge as leaders by being able to express ideas that are explored to the best interest of the organisation. For her, leadership means being clear on roles and goals and ensuring that her team is confident to express their ideas in a safe space where they know they are protected and covered by her. Dr. T also shares that furthermore, leadership for her also means that as much as she may be clear of where her and the team are headed, she can't be too rigid in how she approaches things, thus she will make changes along the way as best as she could to the benefit of all involved.

 

Connect with Dr Thembi Xulu:

LinkedIn: @Dr. Thembi Xulu

 

Connect with me:

FB & IG: @Change Conversations with Mpume

Website: www.changeconversations.co.za

Podbean & Anchor FM: Change Conversations with Mpume

 

 

LinkedIn Insights from a global talent acquisition specialist

In this episode today, I have a conversation with Nompumelelo Mshengu who is a talent acquisition “passionist” as she calls herself. She is passionate about helping people with matching them to the right job. In this conversation, Mpume gives us insights on how best we can leverage LinkedIn as job candidates.

As we may be aware, companies are moving away from the traditional methods of recruitment and LinkedIn is a professional social network platform used by both talent acquisition specialists like Mpume and job candidates.  Mpume states that LinkedIn is the biggest platform to find talent as it allows for networking, training, interviewing tips and how best to prepare and present your profile. Recent surveys show that there is 4 hires every minute which means that talent specialists use LinkedIn as one of their primary sources of talent. As a recruiter she says that she looks for someone who presents themselves well. Mpume advises that your profile needs to stand out by using key words that describe who you are. She shares how important it is to sell yourself, thus, your bio should be able to highlight your career experience, educational background and any other achievements.  Mpume advises that people should research companies and join groups or companies of like -minded people. Don't be scared to connect with people.

 

Connect with Mpume:

LinkedIn: @Nompumelelo Mshengu

Connect with me:

IG & Facebook @conversations with Mpume

Website: www.changeconversations.co.za

Ep. 41 From the classroom to successful online entrepreneur

In today’s episode, I speak to Jake Davey who is successful online entrepreneur. He has worked with lots of entrepreneurs around the world teaching them how to grow and monetise their businesses on Instagram. Jake is based in the UK in Manchester, where he was a teacher for 8 years before he transitioned into his online business. He left his teaching job and went to Australia without a plan, but hoped he would get a job to survive. Luckily for him he was able to secure something before he ran out of his funds. After 12 months in Australia, he decided to go back home and thinking he would go back to his teaching job. His trip to Fiji was the turning point for him. On his day at the beach in Fiji, he met a gentleman who played a big part in Jake’s career transitioning journey.

Jake stresses the importance of having a coach or mentor and that one needs to be intentional about their career – education is a lifelong thing; Jake advises that one should always invest in themselves.

 

Connect with Jake Davey:

Instagram: @jakeadamdavey

 

Connect with Me:

IG&FB. @Change Conversations with Mpume

YouTube: Change Conversations with Mpume

Website: www.changeconversations.co.za