As enshrined in its ENVISION2030 strategy, the Durban University of Technology (DUT) aspires to produce creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, and adaptive graduates who will participate productively in the development of our region, country and the world.
The dynamic student entrepreneur incubated under the innobiz DUT Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Londeka Ngcobo, who is the founder of Tress Beauty Salon is looking forward to becoming a fully-fledged entrepreneur. Her business offers hairdressing services, focusing on embracing African natural hair.
Londeka (23) from eMangadini village at Inkandla, KwaZulu- Natal obtained her Diploma in Information and Communication Technology (ICT): Business Analysis at the DUT 2024 Autumn Graduation ceremony held at Indumiso campus in Pietermaritzburg, on Monday, 13 May 2024.
“I am the owner and founder of the Tress Beauty Salon. It aims to promote African natural hair growth and demote hair damage in the salon market,” she said.
Ngcobo faced immense challenges as a student both emotionally and financially, coming from humble beginnings in the rural Inkandla, and being raised by her grandmother.
She joined the DUT family in 2020 for her Higher Certificate in Information Technology where she continued with her studies and enrolled for a Diploma in ICT: Business Analysis in 2021. She confessed on how she found her love for IT when she was not accepted for the Accounting course.
“IT was never my choice of study. From high school I always liked Accounting studies, to be specific I wanted to do Taxation but when I applied, I got waitlisted until I heard there were spaces in the IT department.When I started IT, I immediately fell in love with the course and wanted to know more and more,” she said.
However, she recollects facing some hurdles in her career path, which then led her to establish her hairdressing business.
“I remember in my first year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, telling my mother I wanted to quit and go back home because I did not have a learning device and my phone would die every second due to battery problems while we were attending online classes. I had no funding at the time but eventually everything fell into place. I would braid other students hair to gain an extra income so I can get through the month,” expressed Ngcobo.
Her advice to future DUT students embarking on the same journey as her is to work extremely hard and be able to manage time efficiently.
“Have passion, focus and enthusiasm, because this might be the most enjoyable yet complicated career path,” she concluded.
Pictured: Student entrepreneur, Londeka Ngcobo.
Patience Makhaye
