19-YEAR-OLD CHANGE-MAKER LERAI LIVES BETTER BY HELPING OTHERS
Entrepreneur and change-maker, Lerai Rakoditsoe, is on a mission to leave no woman behind.
Image sells for a day, talent needs direction and ideas only impact the world if there’s a solid plan behind them. At just nineteen, Lerai Rakoditsoe, has already learned these lessons, so is motivating other young people to think big, work hard and make a difference.
We spent the day with social change-maker, entrepreneur, model and actor Lerai who is on a mission to be a strong female voice in Africa while impacting change specifically around youth and women empowerment.
“I am a co-owner and co-director of African Talent Unearthed (ATU), where really we seek to facilitate the convergence of authentic African talent with global opportunity but also equipping people with entrepreneurial skills.”
Lerai is a full-time student at the University of Pretoria and practically runs a business full-time too, so mastering the art of juggling responsibilities while remaining productive is a key focus for her.
As a young professional, Lerai has aspirations of travelling the world and becoming financially independent, and she knows that means planning and saving.
She’s learned a lot of practical wisdom from her business partner and mother, Jessica Nyarayi Tandy.
Jessica takes the practical approach to empowering Lerai by walking through the steps of planning and learning together. She opted to do this again when Lerai needed to plot a budget and financial goals, and each step needed to meet that goal. Together they share a few insights from their experience.
“I used to think that I had a lot of money to spend in the bank account, but then when I looked at what all the expenses were, I was like… I’m actually broke because of life’s expenses. But what then helped me, was planning financially,” shares the young entrepreneur.
A money plan serves as a detailed map that shows you exactly where to spend your money, where to save and for how long.
“We came across an article, which was actually a Capitec article, that talked about financial planning and provided a nice practical way to take your goals and break it down into the practicalities. We then sat down and did the budget based on the article and how it was guiding us,” shares mom Jessica.
“Capitec provides tools, assistance and inspiration through articles. I read the one on a one year plan for your financial goals and really for me, it put things into perspective how I need to do all of this – from short-term, to medium-term to long-term. So, when I started at the beginning of the year budgeting my entire life, I had this tool that really helped me do it, and crunch it down into pieces and essentially come up with a budget and a financial plan,” adds Lerai.
You can get your hands on the free resources from Capitec by simply visiting their website.
It’s enabling Lerai to live better each day, like taking an afternoon off with friend Mpho Mncwango at the Whycook Studios of Mathapelo Montsho.
It’s while working her magic in the kitchen that we found out about the #1000Girls Campaign that she started along with friends during lockdown.
“We identified refugees as people in need so, we put our heads together to figure out how to tap into our resources and I can happily say that a year later, we successfully raised funds for 1000 sanitary and hygiene packages for refugee children and women in Johannesburg,” shares Lerai.
Understanding the meaning of a life well lived, this early in your career, is such a head start.
“My final piece of advice, for young people especially, is to find that point where your passion and your purpose meet. Once you have that convergence, only beautiful things can happen, especially when you put the right planning into place short-term, medium-term and long-term.
Living life to the fullest, with a vision and plan for getting there – while practically committing to leave no one behind – is how our youth will progress and go on to change the world like Lerai is busy doing.
WIN WITH CAPITEC
Tell us your plan for how to live better and stand a chance to win R1000. Simply comment on the competition post on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram profile with #LiveBetter and your response to enter. The competition ends 19 June 2022 and Ts&Cs apply.
