Happy New Year! Welcome to 2018!
Our Young Person of the Month is Karabelo Maloi from Lesotho! Karabelo Maloi is the Founder of Qholotsa Youth Organization which addresses social ills in Lesotho through positive youth action. He is a change maker at Rotaract Maseru Club. Karabelo holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in Investment Management and Banking from the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
In 2017, he became a One Young World ambassador. He as well became a fellow of the prestigious Hansen Summer Institute on Leadership and International Cooperation. Karebo is a Maseru Hub Global Shaper and a Mandela Rhodes Scholar for the incoming class of 2018.
Read his amazing story below and be inspired!
KARABELO MALOI
Growing up in Sekamaneng, Lesotho, Karabelo Maloi had to contend with school gangs, drugs and alcohol abuse, which were the norm. His mother, whom she terms as an ‘iron woman’, played a critical role in keeping him on track whenever he attempted to stray.
Karabelo excelled in his primary and secondary education and was qualified to join the National University of Lesotho. In his second year of study, he was fortunate to obtain a government scholarship which enabled him to study for a Bachelor of Commerce in Investment Management at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. It was at this university where he was exposed to the concept of ‘breeding young leaders.’ He worked nail and tooth and graduated with a distinction and came out as an individual with a liberated mind.
Karabelo is the Founder and the President of Qholotsa Youth Organization; a youth-led NGO working to tackle some of Lesotho’s social ills through projects that are solution-orientated, practical and scalable. The organization believes the youth have the potential to transform the world!
He began the organization upon completion of his first degree in 2016. When he returned to Lesotho, he was disheartened to find the situation of his country just as he had left it. Lesotho was still grappling with debilitating poverty, the healthcare system was in shambles and the workforce was ravaged by rife unemployment.
Karabelo was hardest hit by how uninspired his fellow youth had become. That was when he took action and together with a few close friends, they began a youth-led organization, Qholotsa Youth Organization.
On awards, honours, conferences and fellowships
In 2015, Karabelo travelled with other high potential student leaders to the University of Vermont in the United States. He was exposed, as a young student, to the positive models of governance, social cohesion and leadership. During the same year, he was selected as an official delegate of the University of the Free State at the Global Leadership Summit which took place in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The summit brought together other young leaders from as far as Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Thailand and the United States.
In 2017, Karabelo Maloi was selected as a Hansen Summer Institute fellow. He attended the leadership and social entrepreneurship camp which took place at the University of San Diego in California, USA. In October 2017, he travelled to Bogota, Colombia to attend the prestigious One Young World Summit. Karabelo received a scholarship from the EU One Young World Peace Ambassador Scholarship program to attend the summit owing to his contributions in fostering social cohesion and ground-level transformation.
This year (2018), Karabelo will be joining the Global Shapers Maseru Hub in Lesotho. He will as well be pursuing his postgraduate studies in South Africa as a Mandela Rhodes Scholar.
Karabelo Maloi believes in the wise man’s saying, “Talent is universal, an opportunity is not.” He says the opportunities he has had have drastically thrust him to be a mover and a shaker he is today.
His advice to the youth
At just 23 years old, Karabelo has plenty of life advice to other young people.
“No matter what your passion is, always dare to dream! Dare to close your eyes and see the world, not as it is, but for what it could be. Dreams are the fuel that feeds our efforts, for it is when you dream that you see the finished objective. And it is when you see the finished objective, that you can pursue it!”
He urges every young person out there to believe in their dreams and work hard to make them a reality. Plus, he emphasizes the critical role of working together as a team to achieve a common goal.
In ten years, Karabelo Maloi sees himself playing a central role in making a change in Lesotho through social entrepreneurship!
You can connect with Karabelo Maloi on LinkedIn! and Facebook!
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