Thembekile Masombuka
Themebikile Masombuka (51), a principal at the Step By Step Day Care Centre in Tembisa, Johannesburg was born and raised in Tembisa, where she started her own Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD) in 2008.
Upon starting her own ECD, Thembikile wanted to learn the ins and out of running a business, which motivated her to further educate herself on how to run her own Centre as a business. After being shown a post on Facebook by one of her children, she joined the Rhiza Babuyile Early Childhood Development Level 3 training in 2020 and later proceeded to do Level 4 training.
Impressed with Rhiza Babuyile’s professionalism and knowledge, Thembekile then enrolled all her teachers to complete their Level 5 in Early Childhood Development training.
“We now have lesson plans, handle children more professionally and treat the Centre as a business. We have morning meetings before starting our day to prepare for the day ahead,” she stated. As a God-fearing woman, Thembekile starts her day with a prayer and lives by the quote, ”The Lord is My Shepherd”. In future, Thembekile hopes to further her studies with the help of Rhiza Babuyile.