Before the cameras, before the applause, and before the proud walk across the stage, there are stories most people never see. Not the polished version of graduation day, but the long, uneven road that leads there. The kind paved with loss, financial strain, and the quiet decision to keep going when stopping would have been easier.
For Siyanda Kepadisa and Tusekile Zungu, graduation was never just a milestone. It was a fight against poverty, uncertainty and the daily pressure of making education work in a country where opportunity often comes with a price tag attached.
Siyanda studied Production Arts at AFDA, with plans to pursue motion picture studies. Her journey was already demanding, but in 2024 it became even more difficult when her father passed away. He had been not only a beloved parent, but the family’s primary breadwinner. In his absence, the financial foundation of her household collapsed, leaving her mother unemployed and Siyanda carrying the weight of continuing her studies under completely changed circumstances.
“It was extremely difficult for me when my father passed,” she reflects. “He wasn’t just a beloved member of the family, he was also our breadwinner. What kept me motivated post his passing, was the idea that if I don’t do it, no one will do it for me.”
That kind of motivation is not loud. It does not arrive as inspiration. It arrives as necessity, as a steady internal voice that keeps you moving when everything external becomes unstable.
Graduation, in that context, is not just a celebration. It is also a logistical hurdle, one that often brings its own set of quiet stresses, from transport to clothing to simply being able to show up fully for a moment you have earned.
As Lebogang Gaoaketse, Head of Marketing and Communication at WesBank, puts it, “Graduation is meant to be a time of pride, joy and celebration not stress about how you’ll afford an outfit, how you’ll get to the venue, or how you’ll pull everything together on the day.”
That understanding became the foundation for WesBank’s competition, a social media-driven initiative built on a simple belief: some moments in life should be free from worry. Through the competition, two graduates were selected to receive a fully sponsored graduation experience, each valued at R15,000. The package included chauffeured transport, a curated outfit, and professional hair and makeup, ensuring that every detail of the day was taken care of.
It was Siyanda’s mother who quietly entered her into the competition. When she found out she had won, disbelief came first.
“It was only when WesBank got in touch with me that I really started to believe that this was real,” she said. As the first person in her family to graduate, the moment carried even deeper significance. The chance to experience it without added pressure made it all the more meaningful.
Tusekile Zungu’s story carries a different but equally powerful weight. She completed her degree in Development Studies and Psychology at the University of Johannesburg, along with 14 additional job-ready certificates. Like many students, her academic journey was shaped by financial pressure. NSFAS assistance provided some relief, but it did not remove the everyday strain of making ends meet.
“My university journey was difficult,” she says. “But even with the little I got from NSFAS, I managed to send money home. What kept me motivated is that I wanted to be the first one in my family to do better, so that I could give back and help them build a home for themselves.”
That sense of responsibility, of studying not only for yourself but for everyone you are carrying with you, is a quiet but powerful force in many South African households.
When she learned she had won the competition, her reaction said everything. “I couldn’t believe that I had won. I cried so hard. I was crying in the taxi, people were so worried about me.”
Selected through a national social media nomination process, Siyanda and Tusekile received a fully sponsored graduation experience where every detail was handled with care. Importantly, each service was provided by carefully selected young solopreneurs, turning the initiative into something bigger than a single celebratory day. It became a showcase of emerging talent supporting emerging talent, a small but meaningful ecosystem of opportunity.
For WesBank, Big Grad Energy is about more than celebration. It reflects a broader commitment to supporting young South Africans as they take their first steps into professional life.
“Siyanda and Tusekile represent the incredible potential of South Africa’s youth. They’re both young women who refused to let circumstance define their outcomes. It is a privilege to play even a small part in their stories, and a reminder of why Graduate Finance by WesBank exists: to move with this generation as they take on the future,” concludes Gaoaketse.
In the end, what stands out is not just the ceremony itself, but everything it took to get there. The quiet sacrifices, the persistence, the resilience that rarely gets photographed. And then, finally, the moment where it all becomes visible, not as struggle, but as arrival.
