
4 minute read
Aligning with her purpose
By Basetsana Makhalemele
When she entered the corporate world through a graduate programme at one of Pan-Africa’s leading banks, the eyes of Purpose Alignment Strategist, Nompumelelo Mbonane’s youth were opened and she took a different direction in her career.
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Until this moment Nompumelelo had felt unfulfilled in a field she had studied for. The qualified Mining Engineer from Wits University knew from the get go that she was in the wrong place and would not stay. Her dream had always been to work closely with people, developing them, teaching them, activating their full potential and helping them achieve great success and not engineering.
Mining was not what I wanted for my life. I had never, ever imagined myself becoming an engineer, " she admits.
At the beginning of 2017, after completing her vacation work at a goldmine in the Westrand, the young and ambitious Nompumelelo was offered a 3-year internship, because of her hard work and doing so well in presenting her research project as a vacation student.
"I still knew that mining wasn't it. I prayed to God for guidance and He told me to let it go if it wasn’t what I wanted. So I declined the offer. With no other job prospects, " she chuckles.
The young woman from Soweto, in Gauteng, says most people in the corporate world expressed how they would rather be elsewhere doing different things with their lives. Their jobs caused them to miss important moments in their children’s lives and gradually compromise their values and integrity.
They closed deals for their business units, but no deals were closed for their own dreams.
Aligning to her purpose
It was her consistent, earnest plea and dedication to go after a life of meaning and work a job that aligns to her purpose that the road to purpose discovery became clear.
"It was when the reality of corporate South Africa became so vivid to me that I got clear on who I was then called to rescue with what I now knew, " she says.
Shortly after declining this offer, she was offered another internship at a mining technical consulting firm and worked there for just under a year.
"Every day of my time there felt empty. I wasn’t where my passions and skills belonged. I was out of alignment, " she says.
For Nompumelelo to get out of this rut, she had to undergo what she calls an earnest pursuit in which she asked God to reveal her purpose because she knew that’s what was missing.
"I left that job and went in a completely different direction. The finance industry. And things started falling into place from this point onwards, " she adds.
Infusing purpose in young professionals In November 2019 her business Purpose Practitioners Club was launched.
The business guides young professionals who feel stuck in careers they settled for and jobs they quite frankly hate; to discover their purpose and turn it into a fulfilling, impactful and sustainable profession.
"Having to run the business now for one year, I can say that God has always met me at my point of need," she says. For instance, I was approached by a digital marketing agent who has been doing our marketing now for the latter part of 2020.
To achieve her work and diversify her reach she also established a podcast called Purpose Practitioners Club that serves the purpose of giving sound (biblical) counsel for purpose practitioners to thrive. It is relaunching in 2021, and all the listeners are going to be blown away by the quality of the content, and the expert advice they will be receiving.

It’s available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, Deezer, Stitcher, and literally where all podcasts can be found.
Through the podcast they run their signature 3-month programme called Purpose to Profession, which they will be opening enrollment for in the first quarter of 2021.
This is the ultimate place for live coaching and consulting sessions where young professionals discover their purpose, establish a profession from it, and gain tools to thrive in it.
Her company also runs an on-demand starter course, that is available on www.purposepractitioners.club. It is a course with 21 lessons that is excellent for those who want a good handle and understanding on purpose and are not yet at a place where they can commit to the 3-month programme.
"We’re looking to work with brands on meaningful collaborations and also take the work of Purpose Practitioners Club into corporates, " she says.
Highlights:
One of the highlights since she started working with young professionals and assisting them redefine their purpose is the feedback she receives.
"Hearing them confidently understand and articulate their purpose, brings me joy, seeing them establish their professions on purpose, now that does something to me that I cannot even put into words, " she says. God is real and I see Him in the results that He achieves in my clients through the vessel that is me.