Please let me introduce myself. I am Sinenhlanhla Luthuli, currently employed as a principal engineer at Toyota South Africa Motors for the past 9 years. I have a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering.

I was born in Nongoma, a rural town in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. This area up to this day is still an impoverished rural town with minimum academic excellence. This is one of many reasons I joined YAP South Africa, with the aim to assist young black girls in career choices suited to their personalities and subjects and assisting them by giving access to basic communication skills; example, email and internet so they can apply to college and university.

I was granted an opportunity to live and work in Japan, Toyota Head Quarters, for two years. I worked as a global project leader coordinating with Asian countries – South America and South Africa. I learned how to work with different nationalities to solve problems and create and improve global processes. During this time, I had to adapt to a completely new working environment, different cultures and language. This experience has enhanced my cultural awareness and my understanding of complexities in each country. It enhanced my listening skills and accepting different viewpoints that helped me be more objective and a fair leader. 

I also took the opportunity to travel and learn about other Asian cultures. I visited Hong Kong, Indonesia & Thailand. Through these travels, I learned a lot about the global community which widened my outlook on global issues.

One of my aspirations, is to be a good leader within my community of kwaNongoma. I want to offer the young black girls’ opportunities to access the global community.

As Mme. Dorothy once said “We have to improve life not just for those who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the system. But also, those who often have so much to I’ve but never get the opportunity.”