E-ARTICLES PRESENTS TO YOU THE SEPTEMBER ARTICLE

THE CHEMISTRY

ENTHUSIAST

Ofente Makgae is a 24-year-old chemistry enthusiast who was born and raised in the village of Manamakgoteng outside Moruleng in the Northwest province.  He attended his primary years at Matuana Primary School, then went to Manamakgoteng High School where his love for chemicals was established. He has always been fascinated about chemicals and chemistry so he ensured that he participated in the Saturday schools of Anglo Platinum. His aim was to work twice as hard in order to receive a bursary from them, so that he could pursue chemical engineering at his preferred University. Unfortunately, after he matriculated in 2009 he did not receive a bursary from Anglo platinum and he was not able to pursue chemical engineering as he had planned.

In the year 2010 he then decided to pursue a National Diploma in Analytical Chemistry at the Tshwane University of Technology and graduated in 2013. He got his first job at the CSIR doing an in service training for a period of a year from 2012 until 2013. He found his early working days very challenging as he was restricted from being innovative as he usually is. He confidently said, “academics are much more fun than a working environment, I prefer more theory and the challenge of innovation than being restricted to a certain system”.

 

He comes from a family that believes in supporting each other, as it consists of his both parents, two older sisters and him being the youngest amongst his siblings. His father, who had previously been a mine worker was one of the unfortunate retrenched employees and that led his mother who has been working as a domestic worker to become the bread winner of the household. That caused his family to go through a very difficult financial strain limiting their financial activities. Despite the hardship his family was facing, they continue to receive a lot of support from their external family. His most supportive structure are the three women in his life, his mother, grandmother and aunt that works for Council Geoscience. Ofentse continues to be grateful for the support they contribute into his life and his dream is to build his mother a house and to make his grandmother proud by continuing to pursuing his education.

 

Ofentse believes that “dedication and hard work should be in sync with each other, talent can only get you so far but without hard work you are not going to make it”. 

He then went forward with his studies and pursued a Bachelor of Technology in Chemistry in the year 2014. He continued to pursue his Masters in Chemistry with “distinction” at The Wits University in Johannesburg. His competitive achievements are receiving a 2014 "Centre of Excellence in Materials SACI award", first place as a “Masters Young Chemist Symposium from UNISA’’ in 2015 and he also received "The James Moir Medal of The South African Chemical Institute for 2015".

He is now a research student who is pursuing his PHD in Chemistry at the Oxford University in the United Kingdom and this time he received a Rhodes Scholarship to further his studies there for a period of four years. He was one of the 89 students around the world who got selected for the Rhodes Scholarship.

His last words of motivation were, “Keep trying because you will never know how far you can get”.

We at E-Articles are grateful that you have shared your lovely life story with us on your journey to success as you have empowered and inspired us to

“dedicate ourselves to our goals and to keep trying in order to reap the rewards thereof”

 We wish you the best of luck in your academic endeavours.

"Keep Hustling"