September, 2018
The efforts of creating access to opportunities are often tentative because there is no guarantee that the intended beneficiaries will use or make a success of the opportunity granted.
The Foundation’s recent experience confirmed that this support service is worthwhile especially when conducted in collaboration with willing partners such as Frankenhof, a member of the Market Demand Exporter group of farms. The Foundation facilitated the partnership between the farm and the Department of Agriculture over a period of 12-15 months and encouraged the owner to enrol workers for the Prestige Awards Programme that recognises/rewards high performance in different categories within the agricultural sector.
Four of the farm’s workers progressed to the final rounds of the competition. Dawid Neels won 3rd prize in the Tractor Driver category and Alfred Dyantyi was the overall winner in the Foreman category. Alfred will now participate on provincial level in November 2018.
The farm owner and management as well as workers are extremely proud. This achievement of their representatives inspired many in their region to improve their work performance and participate in the competition in 2019.
Alfred expressed his sincere and heartfelt appreciation towards the owner and Waitrose Foundation, stating the following: ‘no one gave me this kind of opportunity in the 30 years that I’m working on farms…’
