“The commemoration of Youth Day stems from the struggle but should be focused on a future strongly characterised by humility and integrity. For this future to manifest, you need a substance with the right cementitious properties to bind the material that will give you a concrete foundation. That substance is education,” says Nonkqubela Mazwai, chairperson of Lafarge Industries and Lafarge Mining, welcoming learners and guests to the Lafarge Youth Day event.

Lafarge, global specialists in building materials, considers people are at the heart of its success. Today’s youth will be future employees and customers of companies and it makes sound business sense to guide their education and development.

The Lafarge Youth Day, held at the company’s Longmeadow head office in Johannesburg on Friday, 15 June, highlighted the importance Lafarge attaches to education and sharing of knowledge amongst the youth.

The event gave learners from Bodibe in the North West Province, close to the Lafarge Lichtenburg Cement Works, a valuable exposure to the wide range of careers that could be pursued in the corporate world.

The learners were the impressive recipients of the ‘Lafarge Community Trust Awards for Excellence’, presented at a Lafarge Education and Community Trusts’ function held in Bodibe in May.

Country CEO of Lafarge South Africa, Thierry Legrand, introduced senior managers and specialists, who presented insights into mining and chemical engineering, marketing, legal services, human resources, communications, as well as health, safety and the environment.

The wide spectrum of awards aims to complement the work of the Lafarge Education and Community Trusts and acknowledges the contributions and achievements of all stakeholders in education. The experience gained in Bodibe is now being applied to projects with the Mzimela community in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

By honouring excellence in this way, Lafarge aims to encourage schools to be proactive with initiatives that promote learning, and motivate learners, educators and community members to rise above the norm and excel in what they do.

Congratulating the awardees, Legrand encouraged them to continually seek to improve their performances saying: “In today’s highly competitive world, seize every opportunity that comes your way!

It is immensely pleasing to see the communities around our sites showing such excellent results from the support programmes of the Lafarge Trusts.”