Success Stories

“I was investing in myself.” Andile is 21 years old and has started two of his own businesses in less than a year after enrolling in the Amy Foundation’s Hospitality programme.  Andile grew up in Philippi, a township known for its agricultural development, and worked hard in grade school to matriculate in 2019. 27.3% of people in Western Cape are unemployed and it is incredibly difficult to find a job without years of experience or wealthy connections. A friend of Andile’s and a graduate of the Amy Foundation’s hospitality programme now employed at the Protea Hotel told Andile that if he “was looking for a job, [he] should go to the Amy Foundation.” Andile took his advice, sent in his CV, and was accepted and enrolled in the hospitality programme in January 2020.  COVID-19 quickly forced South Africa into a complete lockdown, and Andile was only a few weeks away from completing the hospitality programme when everything shut down. Confined to his home, Andile refused to wait for something to change. He knew from his time at the Amy Foundation that in order to succeed he had to find and make his own opportunities.  “When you do something that people don’t want to do…that’s where you make the money.” Andile looked for problems in his community that he could create profitable solutions to, and in May he started A&A Cleaning Services with his partner and friend Axolile. They wash bins and occasionally carpets, mattresses, and couches, and operate every Monday in Philippi. Despite the challenges of lockdown, Andile has defied the odds and has grown his business to include nine new employees, and washes over 70 bins every Monday. He plans to expand his business to new areas and times in 2021.  One business isn’t enough for Andile, and in October 2020 he started his second business selling gasoline cylinders to his community. He started the business after noticing that there was nowhere in his neighborhood to buy the cylinders and people were forced to pay for transport as well as the gasoline. Andile now sells the gasoline locally and offers free transport to his clients’ homes.  It isn’t just Andile’s life that has completely changed over the past year. With his new income, he is able to offer support to his family and buy them food, providing financial stability as well as pride in their son and his success. Andile’s nine employees can do the same, supporting their families through the COVID pandemic.  Andile joined the YSD programme at the Amy Foundation with the expectation that he would simply be getting training in hospitality. He got that and more, receiving entrepreneurial coaching that helped him start two businesses and create a rippling positive effect throughout his community. Andile has taken the Amy Foundation’s motto to heart and is doing exactly that: changing lives. 

Mzoxolo grew up in Khayelitsha and enrolled in the Amy Foundation’s hospitality programme in 2018. He didn’t know much about hospitality, but learned various culinary and entrepreneurial skills while at the foundation. “When I started here at the foundation I was so shy…when I was in the orientation I wouldn’t speak, I would just keep quiet even though I had questions I wanted to ask…But after a year of being here at the foundation, you could see everyone coming out of their bubbles, and I thought to myself, ‘Why should I be stuck in my own bubble? I’ll just pop my bubble and express who I am.’” After completing the hospitality programme, Mzoxolo interned at the Twelve Apostles Hotel, a partner and supporter of the Amy Foundation. As well as hospitality skills, he learned how a large business operates and was inspired to become an entrepreneur. He approached one of the YSD staff with a business idea: washing bins in his community. The Amy Foundation supported him whole-heartedly and arranged for him to attend workshops and seminars in town that covered personal finance and entrepreneurship, as well as providing one-on-one business coaching at the foundation office. He had over a dozen customers and was steadily earning an income that could help support his family.  The staff at the Amy Foundation were part of Mzoxolo’s learning experience, as he took the initiative to ask if anyone in the office needed help. He ended up working with the financial manager of the foundation, as well as several facilitators, aiding them in organizing the office and sorting out the logistics of the programmes.  Mzoxolo decided to pause his business and left the foundation to focus on university, enrolling in the College of Cape Town and studying transport and logistics. He is constantly studying and focused on graduating, and oftens stops by the Amy Foundation after class. “This is my happy place. When you are done with the programme and you are placed outside, they tell you that you must always be in communication with them. So I thought to myself, today I just have to come in. And here they assist you with your assignments, your school work, if you need any help like that.”  In the future, after he completes his degree, Mzoxolo plans to start his own transportation business. He wants to own and operate several trucks and create employment opportunities in his community, as well as earning enough money to support himself and his family. He is focused and determined to achieve his dreams, and continues to teach humility and responsibility to his peers. “Never give up in life. You never know what’s there for you…Do what it takes. Put in your CV, go in there…raise your hand, ask questions.”

Dalokuhle grew up in Khayelitsha and matriculated in 2015. For a while, he didn’t know what to do, sitting around the house and relying on his grandmother for financial support. He signed up for a hospitality course at an non-profit institute, but was reluctant and doubtful. “It was not something I was passionate about at first, but then as I got introduced to it I started to like it a lot.” He went on to enroll at a hotel school and began training for the hospitality industry, but was forced to drop out of the school when he was no longer able to afford the education.  “After moving from the hotel school I lost hope. I didn’t know where to go, how to start.” Dalokuhle was scrolling through his phone and saw an advertisement for the Amy Foundation’s YSD programmes. He immediately applied for hospitality and was accepted soon after. “I came here and they gave me hope. They made sure I could do this, and that I also had the confidence, so that even if there is something bad happening, I can still succeed.” He completed the hospitality programme in 2019, but still visits the foundation offices regularly. “Amy Foundation for me is like a family. So each and every now and then I need to go to them and just tell them where I’ve been, how I’ve been doing…They really care for me. And it’s not like they just care when I’m here. Even when I’m home, even in this COVID-19 period they called me to come and collect food parcels.”  After finishing the programme at the Amy Foundation, Dalokuhle was connected to an employment opportunity at the Grand Africa Cafe, where he worked as a runner for six months. After experiencing the reality of the hospitality industry, Dalokuhle fell in love with the excitement and the pressure, and was determined to learn more in order to advance his career. “My plan is to gain as much experience for the future. Just to explore the kitchen or the cheffing industry as a whole, because I’m really in love with it.” He applied for and is currently attending the Cooktastic Hub, a non-profit that furthers hospitality training and sets up employment opportunities, similar to the Amy Foundation. After about three and half months of training there, Dalokuhle is preparing for an exam to qualify him as a sous chef. He hopes to open his own take-away restaurant and further be able to support his grandmother and siblings.  Outside of cooking, Dalokuhle loves to perform. He is an active part of his local community theatre in Khayelitsha and can often be found acting in the most recent productions. “I do music, poetry, dance, and acting… I’ve been doing it for so many years.” His passion and talent for the arts carries through to his culinary skills, and he hopes his skills will benefit the community. His ultimate goal, after all the cooking and the acting,  is to become a teacher. “One of my dreams is to teach, because I believe that I’ve got leadership skills…I want to teach all the information that I have, all the information that I am getting now.” The staff and his fellow alumni at the Amy Foundation are proud of what Dalokuhle has becoming, and the foundation will continue to support him long after he finishes his hospitality training.      *Written by Indigo Knights in 2021, based on an interview with Dalokuhle.

Courtney grew up in Bonteheuwel, not too far from the school. Now 18, she has been part of the Amy Foundation’s netball after-school programme since 2012. She and her younger sister were introduced to the foundation by some of their friends, and they were two of the first students from other schools in the area to attend the foundation’s programmes.  In seventh and eighth grade, Courtney used to bully her peers and younger students. She started smoking around the same time. “I didn’t get the attention I needed, and I just really wanted to fit in with my friends.” She took her frustration out on others, not realizing the damage she was causing. “I was a very rough child, and the Amy Foundation really helped me. I used to bully children and stuff like that, so they actually helped me realize it’s wrong, what I’m doing.” In eleventh grade, Courtney stopped smoking and tried to change her image, doing whatever she could to be a positive influence on younger students. She wanted to leave behind who she was and focus on her future. “When I reached grade 11, when I passed matric [last year], I told myself, I can’t do this anymore, because I’m getting older and I need to be a good example to the younger ones.” The lessons she learned from facilitators carried through to her home life, influencing her relationships with her friends and family. “I started to respect my mother, and I started to be a good influence to my sister as well. So that changed all of us in the house.” Courtney started smoking again after she earned her matric, stuck in her house under pandemic restrictions and struggling to find work. But she hasn’t stopped trying to get better. She is working on being clean again and does her best to get out of her house. She wants to give back to the foundation that changed her life and dedicates much of her time to assisting the facilitators at the after-school programmes at Mimosa Primary School. “I’m willing to help this foundation because they helped me… They’re good mentors to us, man, and they helped us from the road, advising us what to do… Ms. Liezel and Aunty Gail, they always used to get me when they knew I used to smoke… I can’t lie to them because they know me so well. I know they care for me, because if they didn’t do that then they wouldn’t care for me. I really appreciate that.”  Now, she is looking to the future. Courtney plans to enroll in the Amy Foundation’s hospitality programme and aspires to have a career in hospitality that takes her all over the world. “I want to travel so much. I want to go to Amsterdam, of course. And I want to go to Las Vegas. I want to visit America. And Paris… I want to learn more countries and experience them… I would really want to travel the world and come back and share it with everyone else.”