Banele Manana: Finding Purpose in the Problem
What if the problem you once struggled to overcome could become your purpose? In this episode, you’ll hear how entrepreneur and single mother Banele Manana founded the Bee an Angel Foundation to give young people something she never had: the chance to explore different careers through practical, hands-on experience. She talks about building her own successful business, creating career exploration camps, and why hope begins when young people can see possibilities beyond the world they already know.
Listen to the conversation
Behind the Conversation
by Babette Gallard
What stayed with me after talking to Banele Manana was that she had found her way, built a successful business, and then looked back at the young person she had been, unsure of what she wanted to become. Through her Bee an Angel Foundation, she is giving other young people the chance to discover possibilities they might otherwise never encounter, by getting them into workplaces and letting them try things for themselves. I loved her energy and humour, but also her modesty: after everything she had achieved, she gave the credit to her grandmother’s prayers. And her suggestion that our purpose might lie in a problem we have faced and overcome is something I am still thinking about. How often do we get past a difficult stretch and simply feel relieved to leave it behind? Banele turned around and asked who else might need a hand.