…if your table is full build your own…
…Don’t wait for opportunities,create them…
…Use technology to create,not just consume…
…you are not behind,you are becoming…
…Your path doesn’t have to be linear..
BY NELIWE NGUBANE
MBABANE— Young people were challenged to stop waiting for opportunities and instead create their own paths when marketing strategist, content writer and creator Ms Temnotfo Mvubu addressed learners at Sifundzani High School during today’s International Youth Day commemoration.
The event, hosted by the African Union, was held under the theme “Power through Collective Belief”, bringing together learners and speakers for conversations centred on youth empowerment, leadership, self-belief and the opportunities available to young people in a rapidly changing world.
Speaking to learners through a visual video during the event, Mvubu used her own unconventional career journey to demonstrate that success does not always follow a straight line.
Her message was simple but powerful: young people should not measure their progress against someone else’s timeline or wait for the perfect opportunity before taking action.
“If the door isn’t open, you need to find a window. If the table is full, you need to build your own. If an opportunity doesn’t yet exist, ask yourself whether you can actually create one,” Mvubu said.
Her remarks were grounded in personal experience.
Mvubu recalled returning to the job market after graduating as an architectural technologist, only to discover that having a qualification did not automatically guarantee employment.
Despite graduating at the top of her class, she found herself navigating a difficult job hunt in a country where youth unemployment remained a major challenge.
Instead of allowing rejection to define her journey, she began asking a different question: how could she create an opportunity for herself?
That shift led her to explore the internet not only as a platform for consuming information, but as a tool for learning, creating and building opportunities.
She began developing skills in content writing, blogging and social media management while working as a receptionist at Mountain Inn, formerly known as Mountain View Hotel.
Her blog eventually caught the attention of her manager, who encouraged her to use her writing skills for the hotel. What began as a hobby gradually developed into an income stream and later opened the door to social media management and digital strategy.
Today, Mvubu works as a marketing strategist specialising in digital strategy, a career she said looks very different from what she initially imagined after university.
Reflecting on her journey, she urged learners to make meaningful use of technology rather than becoming passive consumers.
“You are growing up in a world where you have so much technology at your fingertips,” she said.
However, she cautioned that access to technology alone was not enough.
“Don’t use it just to consume, use it to create, use it to learn, use it to solve real problems that we have in this world, especially in our country.”
Mvubu also connected her story to the event’s theme of collective belief, explaining that her journey had been shaped not only by personal determination but by people who recognised her potential before she fully recognised it herself.
She encouraged learners to move beyond asking who could help them and instead consider who they could help believe in themselves.
“Sometimes someone else does lend you self-belief until you have enough of your own,” she said.
As the International Youth Day commemoration brought together young people to reflect on their role in society, Mvubu’s message served as a reminder that an unexpected path does not mean a failed one.
Her story showed that a closed door can become an invitation to look elsewhere, while a full table can become motivation to build another one.
For the learners of Sifundzani High School, the lesson was clear: opportunity is not always something to wait for — sometimes it is something to create.
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(Courtesy Pic)
