Proconics reaches out to Marietjie School in Secunda
Two deaf learners get training in the coffee industry.
What began as an idea at Proconics Engineering, Procurement and Construction in Secunda before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, is now finally taking shape.
The management team of this company dreamt about opening a coffee shop inside their offices and recently when things began going back to normal after the lockdown, they decided to give life to this project.
They decided they might as well use the opportunity to open a coffee shop to give back to the community as well and invest in two former learners of Marietjie School.
These two learners, James du Toit and Thuso Mkwanazi, already went for their first few training sessions at the Bean There Coffee Company in Johannesburg.
Melvin Jones, Managing Director at Proconics, said the aim of the project is to help these young men, who are both deaf, to begin a small entrepreneurial start up shop and manage it themselves within a few years.
“We will inject the start up funds and provide training as well on budgeting and managing a business,” said Jones.
“We all love coffee and we have always wanted to serve good coffee to our employees and clients.
“This is now so much more than just a coffee shop inside of our offices, we can now create local employment.
“We believe in growing and uplifting the community.”
The Proconics Head of Marketing and coordinator of this project, Elmarie Koen, heard that teachers of Marietjie School are concerned about what happens to learners after they finish school.
One of the teachers, Rita Meintjes, told Koen about a bright young man, Mkwanazi who just finished school and Koen and the management team of Proconics wanted to meet him.
“We fell in love with him and our initial project of just opening a coffee shop, turned into something bigger,” said Koen.
Meintjies later asked Koen if they would consider Du Toit.
“We came across this coffee place, ‘I Love Coffee’ based in Cape Town, but they have branches in Johannesburg as well and they are now helping us with the training and how to set up the coffee shop.
“Things that we did not consider such as the height of the counter because James and Thuso are deaf, they need to read people’s lips and body language.”
The CEO of Proconics, Reginald Mbatha, said the two young men will get additional training where they will shadow people to know how to do the job and to build up their confidence.
“We have done some research on young, deaf people and we learnt that it takes about two months for them to build up their confidence, so we will put structures in place to help them with that,” said Mbatha.
Proconics will now teach their employees sign language, so that it can make it easier for them to communicate with Du Toit and Mkwanazi.
“It is our idea to fit in with them, not for them to fit in with us, we want to make them part of our family here at Proconics,” said Koen.
“Marietjie School is just around the corner from us and many people do not even know what their needs are.
“We want to create awareness and make the learners of Marietjie School part of our lives.”
Jones and Mbatha urged other companies in Secunda and the surrounding areas to follow suit and also employ learners from Marietjie School.
“Other businesses are welcome to approach us for help and advise if they want to initiate a similar project,” said Jones.
“A coffee shop is an opportunity not only for deaf people, but for people with Down Syndrome for example as well.”
Proconics is planning on opening the coffee shop within the next two or three months.
