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S. Africa: Incubator Prepares Students for Platinum Jewelry Careers
Aug 26, 2007 8:16 AM
By Avi Krawitz
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RAPAPORT... SOUTH AFRICA: Cedric Lesele believes that he has at last found his professional calling in the jewelry industry. The 32-year old student of the Orbit FET (Further Education Training) College is already a qualified hairdresser and has tried his hand at a number of other professions.
“Jewelry manufacture is not as different to hairdressing as you might think. They both have to do with design,” he says without breaking concentration on a casting model assignment. “But this is it for me. My dream is to have my own jewelry company."
Student Cedric Lesele at his workstation in Orbit FET College.
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Lesele is a native of South Africa’s platinum mining capital, Rustenburg, and was accepted into Orbit FET at the beginning of 2007 as one of 18 students who make up the first intake at the college.
Five months into their three-year course to become platinum jewelry manufacturers, the school’s management believe that Lesele and his peers are already on their way to reaching their dreams.
“The aim is to develop entrepreneurial ability among the students, so that they can eventually develop their own businesses,” says Gordon Freer, center manager at the Seda (Small Enterprise Development Agency) Platinum Incubator, which initiated the college’s establishment.
The Seda Platinum Incubator aims to help young entrepreneurs develop platinum-related jewelry businesses by providing services and support such as marketing and project management skills as well as manufacturing services, to which they would otherwise not have access.
The incubator is overseeing the course lectures and content at the college during its first two years, after which Orbit will run independently while continuing to act as a feeder system to the incubator.
One Stop Platinum Shop
The incubator received the boost it was seeking earlier this month when Orbit, which it recruited to run the training program, was cleared as an accredited services provider. That decision will allow the school’s “learners” to become interns of the incubator during their studies, giving Seda’s management the model they’ve been aiming for – where the learners can put their skills to practice while giving them a closer look at the trials of starting a new business.
Freer hopes the students will eventually be able to transition from being incubator employees to starting their own private businesses.
Gordon Freer (left) and Brent Laarman, Seda Platinum Incubator's Marketing and Communications manager.
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The Seda incubator currently provides services to six such small businesses, five of which are “virtual,” or off campus, with the latest recruit as the first to set up shop at the incubator’s Rustenburg premises. The incubator has space for up to 15 tenants and Freer admits its current location may not be big enough to accommodate its expansion plans. He envisages the center becoming a one-stop-shop to provide design, manufacture and packaging facilities for platinum jewelers.
Beginning With Beneficiation
The incubator was started by the Platinum Trust - which was formed to address the beneficiation opportunities in South Africa’s platinum environment – and subsequently supported by the Seda Technology Programme - which seeks to contribute to South Africa’s economic growth through technology transfer and business incubation. It was through the beneficiation drive to create spin-off industries around South Africa’s rich minerals sector, that the idea to establish the Seda Platinum Incubator developed.
South Africa is the world’s largest producer of platinum, the large majority of which - like the country’s other raw materials - was historically exported to create a foreign exchange stream for the country during the Apartheid years.
Recognizing the potential to create jobs in the sector beyond mining, the South African government has been overhauling its mining legislation to allow the local economy to further benefit from the country’s raw materials in sectors such as jewelry design and manufacturing. The diamond industry also benefited from these reforms with the recent creation of the State Diamond Trader, which will oversee diamond exports and ensure that at least 10 percent of the country’s rough stones are cut and polished locally.
Although the restructuring of the diamond industry is still in its infancy, management at the Seda Platinum Incubator believe they have found the right formula to achieve their beneficiation goals. While they are cautious not to deviate from their mandate “to build platinum jewelry businesses,” they have recognized the potential to partner with other industries to enhance the beneficiation process.
“This is the only dedicated center looking at platinum and group metals in the country,” Freer notes. “There is talk about establishing a diamond college in Kimberley, and we’ve already approached the stake-holders there to arrange possible lecturer and student swaps.”
“What we don’t want is to have them teach how to cast and finish metals and alternatively we don’t want to teach how to cut, polish and finish diamonds,” he adds.
Creating a Market
Getting this far, however, has been a long process and Freer explains that the incubator was careful to ensure that there exists a sufficient market for high-end platinum jewelry before embarking on its plans. As a result, it initiated the Djadji brand of jewelry to test the market, outsourcing its manufacture and development.
Having successfully sold the Djadji jewelry, the incubator decided to take its involvement to the next level. In August, it launched the new Djadji jewelry collection which for the first time included contributions from the Orbit students.
“The idea is that the students will be responsible for more of Djadji’s manufacturing as their skills develop,” Freer says.
Similarly, the students are helping make other collections of jewelry, including those of the incubator’s tenants, and it is expected that their involvement will increase when they become employees.
Building Businesses
Freer stresses, however, that the aim is not to grow the incubator’s employee base, and as the world eyes South Africa’s drive to diversify its minerals industry, the incubator is careful to keep its mandate well defined and its activities in line with the country’s beneficiation goals. Freer is confident it has the right formula to achieve these goals.
“There’s a shortage of skills in terms of platinum design and manufacturing. The bigger challenge, however, is to keep the skills we have in the industry,” he says. “Our job is not to create jobs in the incubator. Our job is to grow our tenants’ businesses.”
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Tags:
Collections, Economy, Government, Jewelry, Manufacturing, South Africa
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success story
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Jul 31, 2009 8:08AM
By cedric lesele
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Good day, Cedric lesele completed his studies and now owns Phase of Platinum Jewellers cc, for all your jewellery designing ,manufacturing,cleaning of casting he is there......his e-mail is monced@msn.com
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change of information
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Jun 12, 2009 7:42AM
By cedric
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Good day,
I am commenting regarding the information about this heading (Incubator prepares student for platinum jewelry careers).
Actually my name appears as one of the student, the thing is the age is giving people wrong information i am no longer 32yrs of age and not a student any more, i have graduated. I think the information needs to upgraded
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