Khuzwayo’s Journey

DUT student rises above barriers on the road to entrepreneurial success…

Up-and-coming entrepreneur and Durban University of Technology (DUT) Diploma in Business Information Management student Nqobile Nomfundo Khuzwayo has not let her disability become a deterrent in her academic studies or entrepreneurship journey.

Business Information Management student Nqobile Nomfundo Khuzwayo is a thriving student and entrepreneur despite suffering from Hypoxic Brain Injury.

Khuzwayo’s study journey

“My study journey began at Ekuthuleni Combined School, KwaMashu, where I completed grade one to grade three. I then attended the Paul Sykes Primary School from 2006 to 2010. This was followed by attendance at Hill Grove Secondary School until 2011. It was then that my life changed forever. I suffered from Hypoxic Brain Injury (a brain injury that forms due to a restriction of oxygen supplied to the brain), so I had to find another school that would accommodate my disability,” she said.

Khuzwayo completed her matric in 2018 at the AM Moola Spes Nova School, which specialises in education for persons with disabilities. She could not apply for university in 2019 because she did not have a motorised wheelchair and so decided to take a gap year. In 2020, she was so excited to get an opportunity to become a student at DUT.

However, with the onset of COVID-19, she could not attend physical classes and is now doing her studies online, which she admitted has its disadvantages.

She immediately joined the Differently Abled Students Association (DASA) on becoming a student, which has been a great support structure for her.

Know your rights!

“It is vital to be part of the association because you get to know your rights as a student living with a disability on and off campus. Students can follow our Disability Rights Unit on Facebook as it’s important to be educated about disability,” she said.

Explaining how her journey as a person with a disability had impacted her, Khuzwayo conveyed that it had changed her life as she now has to, at times, rely on other people to help her with her daily routine.

She struggles with doing daily chores but gets help from friends and family in getting ready for school or doing her washing and ironing.

Academic challenges

Khuzwayo also spoke about some of the challenges (preCOVID-19) she faced as a student when she was attending classes physically. They included the fact that some campuses were not accessible for persons with disabilities such as lifts on campuses. She said that most of the time, the lifts were full or not working, making it difficult to get to class on time.

She also said that some classes on campus are not yet wheelchair accessible, and at residences the issue of lifts was also a problem as they are often inadequate.

A successful peer mentor

Besides her academic studies, she is currently a peer mentor for first-year students and loves helping people, especially other DUT students.

“The peer mentoring is going well; my responsibilities are to show the first-year students around campus (pre-COVID-19), helping them with their modules that they are finding difficult and giving them support and guidance in terms of their studies. I enjoy this because I am keen on helping other students and I want them to succeed,” she said.

DUT nurtures her entrepreneurial dream

Khuzwayo said that DUT has helped her discover who she is and what she wants in life. “Since I want to grow as an entrepreneur, I have gained a lot from the DUT’s Entrepreneurial Desk,” she said. “I feel honoured to be a DUT student because I now have an opportunity to study, and not every person with a disability gets this opportunity.”

She is very excited about her academic journey because due to the lack of job opportunities, she wants to become a fullyfledged and knowledgeable entrepreneur and her studies at DUT will allow her to become one.

Khuzwayo started her business called Dimplez Digital Invitations in 2019, which entails creating and making invitations for all kinds of occasions. Her idea behind the business came about because of her immense passion for digital design.

“I am proud of my business and am keen on growing it really big. I would like to employ other students, since in these days it’s hard to get employment; students are sitting at home with their qualifications,” she added.

In terms of the help that she had received at the Entrepreneurial Desk, she said that she now knows how to do a business plan. “I know how to do a value proposition and I also got motivated by the people who came and spoke to us (pre-COVID-19) during our boot camps,” she said.

Khuzwayo’s advice to other students living with disabilities is to never let one’s current situation determine one’s future. “Anyone can change the world, so what makes you think that you can’t do it? Anything is possible if you put your mind to it. I’m a living testimony to that; I was declared brain dead, but look at where I am today. I passed my matric and now I’m a proud DUT student and I’m elated to say that I’m passing my modules with distinctions,” she said.

Future plans

Khuzwayo explained that her role models are her mother and sister, and her future plans are to establish a company that leaves an indelible mark in the industry as well as to one day own and drive her own car. “I want to study until I do my PhD, and I want to be financially stable in order to move forward and achieve my entrepreneurial dreams,” she said.

I am proud of my business and am keen on growing it really big. I would like to employ other students, since in these days it’s hard to get employment; students are sitting at home with their qualifications.