A Chance For Growth

Sarah Maphosa is a Motheo staff member who is going to training through the Motheo Academy. This is her story.

The Motheo Academy doesn’t just extend its work to unemployed youths; it is also committed to training internal staff. In 2017, a major call out was done among staff members to see who had an interest in improving their skills. Sarah Maphosa, a receptionist at the Johannesburg office was one of the people who signed up. “For me, it was an easy decision to make because who doesn’t want to improve themselves?” she asks. Sarah has been at Motheo since 2006. When the company had a tough financial spell in 2012, she was retrenched with the promise to be re-hired once business picked up again. “Getting retrenched is very difficult but I knew that the owners of the business are honest people. I believed them when they said they would call me as soon as there was more work available.” Ten months later, Sarah received the call she had been hoping for and she has been back since. When the announcement about the possibility to go for training was made, Sarah went into a meeting to find out more. “It was explained to me that the training would help me improve my skills for the job I already do. I was also told that the company wanted to empower people who have disabilities. As someone with a disability, that meant a lot to me.” Sarah is currently in the middle of her learnership, which focuses on the administrative side of business. “The learnership is teaching me, in detail, about the work that I do. There are also new aspects that I am being exposed to, like team management, reception management and a bit about the world of construction,” she shares. “I didn’t realise how many things I didn’t know. My computer skills have improved and I have no doubt that I will be more experienced in my field when I complete this.” Sarah admits that the learnership is quite intensive. “I didn’t realise how much work it would be. We have assignments and a lot of modules to get through. That has taught me to multitask because I have to do my job and focus on my books and assignments at the same time. It’s a new place that I find myself in and I am determined to do well at it.” Sarah says that she never thought she would get the opportunity to study at this point in her life. “I am very grateful to have this opportunity; I know that not everybody gets the chance to learn something new. One of the many perks of being at Motheo is the knowledge that people are really invested in helping you improve your life,” she says. Once the learnership is completed, Sarah says she will look into other ways that she can extend herself and her responsibilities. “I am getting better at my job because of this training and I am excited to see what comes next.”