In 2024, labour resourcing for shuts and major works around Richards Bay emerged as a challenge due to the limited availability of suitably qualified and experienced artisans within the Umhlatuze Municipality. The shortage of both skilled and semi‑skilled workers, particularly those with formal certification or adequate experience, resulted in capacity gaps during critical maintenance periods.

Mondi, in collaboration with FP&MSETA, committed to training 100 semi-skilled artisans over an 18 month period, in the 4 trades that were identified as most lacking, through an extensive contractor survey, namely: electrician, boilermaker, welder and fitter. Two implementing entities were selected to conduct the 13-week module training, being Umfolozi College and Richards Bay Technical Training & Assessment Centre (RBTTAC), who both added great value in both theory and practical training.

Each application window was met with an extremely high volume of hopeful applicants and the target demographic for the project were black youth from the Umhlatuze Municipality, who had excelled at high school in technical subjects, and who also had a passion for their specific trades. Most were unemployed, and desperately seeking to grasp an opportunity that would make them economically active, and change their lives for the better, forever. Mondi is also proud that of the entire group, 40% were females, thus making this project highly inclusive.

Owing to the Mondi Mill ‘shut’ at their Richards Bay mill in November 2025, Mondi Zimele was able to place 78% of the students that had graduated, into short term work experience positions. From there a number of them have successfully been offered permanent positions, and others have managed to secure apprenticeships with some major national companies, including: Toyota, Eskom, South 32, Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA), and others.