David Mphosha, Moyeng Dithebe

Nominee's Province:
Free State

Age:
23, 24

Project Name/Description:
Tourism management graduates

More info:

Varsity buddies and tourism management graduates David Mphosha and Moyeng Dithebe are working part-time jobs in the hospitality sector while working on their dream job as co-owners of a travel agency – Funbase Tours & Consulting. The Central University of Technology graduates are hosting their first tour of Bloemfontein on June 30, all as part of a process to build a name and brand that people will, five years from now, trust as the authority in local and international travel. “We are studying the big global travelling agencies and we want to compete with them for business in the future,” says Mphosha. The 24-year-old Mphosha, who turns a five-minute drive in the Bloemfontein CBD to meet Dithebe into a tour of the interesting landmarks along the way, says he fell in love with tourism in high school. “I excelled in tourism at high school. And when I took it up at university, I vowed to use the knowledge I would gain throughout my studies to start my own business,” says Mphosha who hails from Ladybrand, which is near Lesotho’s capital Maseru. “I have also discovered that people in Bloemfontein are not into visiting local tourist attractions, but they do that when they go to Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. I want to change all of that. There’s so much history to highlight and explore through guided tours here,” he says. He found a kindred spirit in 23-year-old Moyeng, from Odendaalsrus, a gold mining town in Free State’s border with North West. Dithebe says he fell in love with the idea of packaging a fun travelling experience for people when he was introduced to tourism as a school subject in grade 10. “I enjoyed the subject so much that I would explore more of it beyond the topics we learnt at school,” he says. The duo, who graduated this year with a National Diploma in tourism management, use social media to get clients.