Congratulations to Miss Onyinyechuku Maryjane Igbojinna, 2022 UP Public Speaking Champion.
Miss Onyinyechuku remarked after winning the tournament, "Honestly speaking, I am very grateful to God, my family, and the trainers for pushing us to get out of our comfort zones." Her selected topic was "Content Creation as a Solution to Unemployment," She explained that she chose it after noticing how much content she consumes in her own life and the impact it has on viewers and creators. From spanning boundaries and connecting people to entertaining the entire world during a frightening pandemic, but most importantly, financially empowering so many people. Igbojinna indicated that she advises more students to take part in public speaking – “public speaking is such a vital skill that we all need to have because when we grow up one day, whether we are healthcare workers or in the corporate world, you need to learn how to communicate effectively.” Along with the winner, there was also a prize for the most improved speaker during the tournament, who was Sibusiso Mziyako. Mziyako is a debater who was persuaded to compete by a buddy who spotted his ability. "In reality, my friend forced me to enter.” "This is my first competition, and the experience I gained in debate has really helped me transition into public speaking," Mziyako said.

This event could not have been the success it was without the immeasurable support given by our partners and the hard work of our team. We also thank the University of Pretoria SRC for seeing the power of public speaking in the same way we do. Montjane Tshabalala told us that “I think it's extremely important, for whatever industry you want to go into you need to be a good communicator, whether its in a boardroom, whether it's in a plant, at the end of the day communication skills and public speaking skills I personally feel are skills each and every person should have''. The highlight of the event for Montjane Tshabalala was that the theme was about South Africa – “listen, for me it was for the fact that the topic was South Africa, and here I was looking at seven different young people in our country and they all touched on something totally different, and I thought to myself how different was that.” She went on to further indicate that the topics were thought provoking, they got me thinking, got me looking deep inside and I thought to myself, oh my goodness, the excellence of our people, especially the young people. The youth actually has solutions to the problems that are currently taking place, not just in South Africa, but on the continent”. Lennox Wasara who sat as one of our judging panelists commented that “I think it's very important to pass on the knowledge to the next generation of speakers and help people to be equipped to speak their message confidently and comfortably”.