Mpho Kenneth Staat

Youth in Business and Entrepreneurship

Nominee's Province:
Free State

Age:
32

Project Name/Description:
G Staat

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.staat

Mpho Kenneth Staat, 32, from Thaba Nchu, Free State, regards himself as a man of the cloth and a social entrepreneur with a mission to make a difference in people’s lives. At 15, he dropped out of high school to undergo four-year training as a pastor in Cape Town. “That’s when I developed a love of working with people through community projects,” he recalls. However, he quit the ministry and moved to Johannesburg where he developed an interest in making clothes. He enrolled with SewAfrica Fashion College, Pritchard Street, Johannesburg, to study pattern-making. After finishing the course, he hosted free sewing lessons for children from eight years old to women in their 60s at the Tabernacle Church of God in Ivory Park, Midrand. In 2016, he went back to studying theology at the Johannesburg Bible College. Four years later, he returned to Thaba Nchu where he enrolled in a clothing production course at Motheo TVET College. At the end of 2020, he launched G Staat, a social enterprise providing accommodation to college students, sewing lessons, and handbags made from recyclable materials. “With the little funds we have, we’ll continue serving our community,” he says. “We encourage our students to open their businesses, make a living and participate in the circular economy. But we need more capital to make this a reality.” Staat is determined to grow G Staat into a strong brand with multiple units reminiscent of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Staat is, without a doubt, a man on a mission