Oarabile Mashigo refused to let the rejection of his application for funding by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to get him down.
Instead, his dream to one day become a lawyer pushed him to start a fleece blanket company so that he could raise money to pay for his tuition fees.
Mashigo, 22, from Pretoria West, is one of thousands of students from universities and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges across the country whose applications were not approved this year.
He wanted to study towards an LLB at the University of Pretoria (UP), but lack of funding forced him to put that dream on hold.
Minister of higher education and training Blade Nzimande yesterday said more than 140,000 students had been rejected by NSFAS.
Nzimande said more than 22,000 university students were unfunded because they have obtained their first undergraduate qualifications with 22,649 university students and 140 TVET college students exceeded the N+ rule, while 88,016 TVET students and 8,326 university students failed last year.
Mashigo refused to give up and in April, he started Cozii Lifestyle after a month of learning about knitting and sewing.
“I had just completed my BA law degree with UP in March when my happiness turned into despair. All the years I had been funded by NSFAS, but the scheme said they could not continue to fund me for my LLB studies. I shared my story with Tuks Ekhaya residence [where he lived while studying] manager David Raats,” he said.
He said Raats introduced him to his wife Nicolette who taught him about sewing and knitting.
“Nicollete did not only teach me how to make fleece blankets and scarfs, but she also taught me how to monetise them, that is how my business was born.
"To come up with a start up capital, I was doing bicycle deliveries around my neighbourhood. I would charge R10 per trip to go to the mall and get groceries. With the money that I made from deliveries and donations from David and friends, I managed to start my business,” he said.
Mashigo said at first, business was slow and he was making about two to three blankets a week, but it has since picked up and he now makes about five blankets a week.
He said the high unemployment rate among youth and the abuse of drugs had him worried and he decided to plough back in his community by teaching some of the unemployed young people how to make blankets and scarfs.
“At the moment I work with three young people who assist with sewing and knitting, but I hope to train and employ more people to fight unemployment in my community. For now I am happy that I am making a difference in these people’s lives as I have given them an opportunity to make an income for themselves without resorting to crime,” Mashigo said.
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