Young people in Fisantekraal learned how to be role models in their community during a leadership summit run by the Waumbe Youth Development Centre on Saturday October 7.
The first summit was held last year to get like-minded individuals into one space to create a network and help them to transform their organisations.
Lucinda Valentine, the founder of the GiveWise, an assessment and evaluation company, told the 30-odd young people who attended this year’s summit that life had moments of failure but they should never give up because “dots do connect when moving forward”.
“In life, the amount of work you give in will determine the outcome because in life you get what you give in,” she said.
Ogochukwu Nweke, an associate director with the International Institute for ICT Journalism, stressed the importance of working hard in order to succeed and he said young people should use social media to make an impact and find information.
“Embrace reality by evaluating the importance of each reality aspect,” he said.
Mr Nweke has lectured and spoken at various universities, in various countries.
His contributions to the use of social media in teaching and learning (on and off campus) won an award for the African University College of Communications (AUCC), in New York.
Pastor Thando Melane said: “Leadership is about influence, nothing more, nothing less” and anyone could be a leader without having to hold the “leadership” position.
“Leadership is about action and not just words, a leader has to lead by example and set a mandate that people need to follow because one is more influential when he/she shows people what needs to be done rather than just telling them what it is that needs to be done,” he said.