Glorious moment for Mr Thembisile Tyopo, the 2019 WV de Wet Student Leader Excellence Award winner (right), he is seen here with Mr Dirk Uys, Chief Financial Officer Rich Products Corporation Africa (left); and Mrs Letitia De Wet, Chief Executive Officer and Country Director Enactus South Africa (middle). Thembisile walked away with a highly coveted Enactus South Africa trophy and a certificate.

A second-year Electrical Engineering student and Enactus CUT projects manager, Mr Thembisile Tyopo, scooped the 2019 WV de Wet Student Leader Excellence Award at the Enactus South Africa national competition held on 8 and 9 July 2019 at Sandton, Johannesburg.

Mr Tyopo was amongst the highly competent students from 24 participating universities in South Africa who are participants in the Enactus programme. A proud Enactus-CUT Projects Manager, Thembisile, has led his team on several projects such as Local economic projects in partnership with Masilonyana Municipality, Harmony Gold Mine, First National Bank, Letsemeng Municipality, African Solutions Institute and Centre for Applied Food Sustainability and –Biotechnology (CAFSaB).

As one of the judging measures, candidates were expected to document their proven leadership capabilities and demonstrable competencies through direct and consistent participation in a social entrepreneurship or social empowerment projects in their communities.

In their comments, the Enactus South Africa judging team said that Thembisile is a living testimony of an outstanding leader who has lived the Enactus values of integrity, passion and innovation through the multiple livelihood strategies and methodologies that impacted the lives of marginalised communities.

Confident leader, Mr Thembisile Tyopo in action presenting at Enactus Harmony LED special competition, one of the many projects he has led as the Project Manager for Enactus-CUT.

“His nomination and success did not come as a surprise to us as he has proven himself beyond reasonable doubts with his great leadership and social enterprise strides in disadvantaged communities in the Free State Province. These projects improved the standard of living and quality of life of underprivileged communities which faced great adversity of poverty, inequity and unemployment in the country,” said Miss Maraka Lefera, one of the team members and former Enactus South Africa Junior Alumnus of the year award winner.

Prof. Crispen Chipunza, mentor and Enactus-CUT Faculty Advisor, said that Thembisile has undoubtedly shown sustained support and dedication to the CUT Community Engagement programmes that contributed to the socio-economic development of the Free State Province. “The young leader has made us all proud. He has left an indelible mark on the CUT social entrepreneurial landscape. Well-done to the entire team for keeping the flag up high.”

Asked about his achievement, Mr Tyopo said he feels happy and blessed to win such a prestigious award and more importantly, is proud to be part of Enactus-CUT. “To win such an award on behalf of my team and the institution is an enormous achievement. I want to show my peers, fellow classmates and friends that Enactus is an engine of development for self-improvement and they must get involved, “he said.

The winner walked away with a highly coveted Enactus South Africa trophy and a certificate.