Success Stories

The girl from Inanda who bagged engineering

There are some names that stay with you, not because they’re famous, but because they’re first.

Nokubonga Ngcobo is Ntuthuko Mentorship Academy’s first-ever graduate — and yoh, her journey is the kind that makes you believe again. The kind that reminds you that a child’s background doesn’t have to be the ending of their story. Its often not how you start in LIFE.

In 2024, Nokubonga graduated at Durban University of Technology (DUT), qualifying in Mechanical Engineering. Then she went on and did it again, completing her Honours too degree. Two milestones. Two big wins. Haibo! Not many people understand what it takes to finish engineering — so when someone does it twice, you don’t just clap. You pause. You feel it. You thank God. You thank the village, your school, your peers.

“Matric kaCOVID” was not a joke

Nokubonga did matric in 2020 — right in the middle of COVID, when school wasn’t even school properly. For many learners, learning became a patchwork: some days in class, some days at home, and the rest was just you and your own discipline.

For her, one of the hardest moments was attending classes only three days a week. That doesn’t sound like a “challenge” until you picture it: you’re a Grade 12 learner, the pressure is high, the syllabus is heavy, and you’re expected to stay focused even when everything is uncertain. One week you’re trying to catch up, the next week you’re behind again. It takes a special kind of strength to keep going when the structure is gone.

But Nokubonga didn’t fold. She said ngeke and carried on. The weekend projector that “wasn’t clear” (but the message was)

Success stories often get told like they’re always neat: nice desks, perfect notes, quiet rooms, fast WiFi. But real life — especially for students coming from our communities, is not like that.

One of Nokubonga’s most honest mentorship memories is this: those Ntuthuko mentorship motivational videos (some were landing rockets from a then young South African trying to take on the world, you know, before the fame and all!) on weekends, playing on a projector that wasn’t even clear. The screen was not sharp. The picture was not perfect. Kodwa the message? The message was clear:

Show up. Try again. Don’t be embarrassed to rewind. Don’t be ashamed to ask. Don’t stop. That’s the part people don’t post, but that’s the part that builds graduates.

Engineering taught her to respect every mark. Engineering is a different kind of tough. It humbles smart people. It tests patience. It forces you to think when you’re tired. It makes you do the same problem three times until you finally see where you were going wrong.

And this is why Nokubonga’s proud academic moments are so relatable: those 50% passes.

People outside the journey hear “50%” and think it’s small. But engineering students know — a 50% can be a trophy. A 50% can be the result of pushing through stress, confusion, heavy workloads, and moments where you honestly think, “Maybe I’m not built for this.”

But she was built for it.

Those passes became proof that she can survive pressure and still get results. That she can fall behind and still recover. That she can be challenged and still finish. And that resilience is going to serve her for the rest of her life.

The moment that made the whole academy emotional

Now here’s a personal moment that still sits in the heart.

Nokubonga invited Ntuthuko (the founder of Ntuthuko Mentorship Academy) to her graduation.

That invite is a big deal. Graduations usually have limited guest tickets — often only a small number of guests are allowed, meaning you choose carefully who sits in those seats. So when Nokubonga used one of those precious spots to invite her mentor, it said something without needing long speeches:

“You were part of this.”
“You helped me get here.”
“This win is shared.”

Unfortunately, Ntuthuko was in London in the UK at the time and couldn’t make it, painful timing. But being invited alone was one of those moments that reminds you: mentorship is not administration. It’s relationship. It’s family.

First in the family. First for the academy.

Nokubonga’s proudest moment wasn’t only an academic result.

It was being the first in her family to graduate — and stepping onto that graduation stage knowing she’s changing the meaning of “possible” for everyone coming behind her.

And for us, as Ntuthuko Mentorship Academy, she is also our first graduate. The first student to cross the finish line and show everyone watching that this thing we’re building is real. That mentorship matters. That consistency matters. That showing up on weekends matters. That encouragement matters.

The reason she is on this website today is so that everyone sees its possible.

Being “the first” is heavy. There’s no blueprint. There’s no older sibling who already did it. You become the example while you’re still figuring it out yourself.

But that’s exactly what Nokubonga has done — and because of her, other learners can look at this story and say: “If she did it, nami I can.”

A message to the learners reading this

If you’re still at school right now — maybe you’re in Grade 10, 11, or 12 — and you feel like life is louder than your books… read this properly:

Nokubonga also had a reason to give up. She had fewer school days. She had COVID disruption. She had pressure. She had difficult modules. She had moments where a 50% felt like climbing a mountain.

But she didn’t stop.

So don’t let anyone tell you your dream is “too big” just because your situation is hard. Hard is not a sign you must quit. Hard is a sign you’re doing something that will change your life.

To Nokubonga

Nokubonga, siyabonga kakhulu for trusting Ntuthuko Mentorship Academy with your journey – and for carrying our “first graduate” title with so much humility and strength.

Go build. Go shine. Go be great. And never forget: you didn’t just graduate… you opened the door.

This year in 2026, we are expecting certain graduates to come through but non will be the “first”, there can only be one “first”, first undergraduate and first post graduate it, so iminyango is closed for undergraduate, Hons so its upto you now if you want to close the Masters doors too or you want to leave it for other people to be the “first”, only time will tell.