South Africa is a country bubbling with talented, creative, innovative and ambitious young people. Although most people see age (youth) as a barrier towards achieving their dreams, some have succeeded in breaking this mind-set especially in fields such as in manufacturing, technology, arts and culture, financial services and agriculture. Some of the examples of people who defied the odds against young age are two teenagers – Thato Kgatlhanye and Rea Ngwane – who, when they finished high school, founded a company known as Repurpose Schoolbags. The company focuses on making environmentally friendly school bags from up-cycled (products that have been made from used objects or material) plastic shopping bags with built-in solar technology that charges up during the day and transforms the bag into a light at night. The project targets school children in underprivileged communities, allowing them to study after dark in homes without electricity. The bags are also designed with reflective material so that children are visible to traffic during their walk to and from school. Through this initiative, these two teenagers have proven that it’s never too early to pursue your dreams of being a business owner.

Our educational article for this month’s issue of Mbalo Brief titled ‘Profile of persons with disabilities in South Africa’ gives us a broader view of people living with disabilities in South Africa. The article is derived from Report No.
03-01-59, published in September 2014. The article explores the prevalence of disability, degree of difficulty for different types of disabilities, access to basic services such as housing and education, as well as the usage of assistive devices.

Included in this issue are our monthly articles such as the Producer price index (PPI), Wholesale trade sales, Mining, Tourist accommodation and Electricity. However, the latest data on Tourism and Migration is not yet available. We have also included a crossword puzzle for this month and solutions for the April 2015 puzzle.

Articles published in this issue are based on results of industry surveys conducted for the months ranging from February to March 2015 which were
released in March and April 2015.

Download Mbalo Brief – May 2015

For more details on any of the surveys, visit our website at: www.statssa.gov.za.