People of the Bay is proudly sponsored by Mastertons Coffee & Tea Specialists.
By ELEANOR DOUGLAS-MEYERS
There are some people you meet who are almost impossible to put into a box. Adrian Wagener is one of them.
With his beautifully tailored suits, high heels and wonderfully flamboyant personality, youโd be forgiven for assuming he works in fashion or entertainment.
And while he has dabbled in the latter, youโd be wrong.
Adrian is a businessman. A very serious one, actually.
Heโs the founder of NexGen Training Academy in Kariega, an institution focused on equipping people with practical skills for careers in community healthcare.
Spend a few minutes with him and youโll quickly realise that behind the fabulous exterior is an incredibly passionate, intelligent and determined man.
But what struck me most wasnโt his appearance or even his achievements.
It was the way he spoke to me.
Adrian has this remarkable ability to make you feel seen. He is expressive, encouraging and genuinely interested in the person sitting opposite him. You leave a conversation with him feeling as though whatever youโre working towards might just be possible.
And once you understand his story, you realise why that matters.
From needing help to giving it
Adrian grew up in Kariega, where his childhood included poverty, instability and time spent in foster care.
He remembers the women who helped shape him, particularly his mother, grandmother and foster mother Ellen, who encouraged him to believe in himself.
In his questionnaire, he describes himself as โa survivor who became a builder.โ
Itโs a fitting description.
He knows what it means to need someone to believe in you because he was once that person.
And in 2020, during a global pandemic, he decided to turn that understanding into something tangible.
NexGen Training Academy was born.
It started at his home in the Moegesukkel informal settlement, moved through temporary spaces and, at one stage, even operated from a volunteerโs backyard shack.
Eventually, with help from the community, he secured classroom space and began with just ten students.
Not exactly glamorous beginnings, but Adrian has never been one to wait for perfect circumstances.
Teaching people to fish
Weโve all heard the saying about giving someone a fish versus teaching them how to fish.
For Adrian, itโs more than a motivational quote. Itโs the foundation of his business.
NexGen focuses on health promotion and community healthcare training, equipping students with knowledge and practical experience for work involving health education, disease prevention, wellness campaigns and supporting communities.
Adrian has a background in healthcare, having completed practical training at a provincial hospital before working at Aurora and with private clients. He also studied marketing and later pursued assessor and moderator qualifications, combining his healthcare experience with education and his natural instinct for business and marketing.
Today, NexGen has achieved accreditation as a skills development provider and assessment centre, something Adrian speaks about with enormous pride after years of challenges.
The academy is also working towards expanding its training offerings, including pursuing accreditation in social auxiliary work.
But ask Adrian about his greatest achievements and he doesnโt immediately start listing his own qualifications.
He starts talking about his students.
Two former students, he tells me, secured employment in the United Kingdom. Others have found opportunities in community healthcare, including one working with LoveLife at Middle Street Clinic.
He remembers their achievements, their qualifications and where they are now.
And his face lights up as he tells you.
Itโs clear that these arenโt simply success stories for a business brochure. These are people whose journeys genuinely matter to him.
Creating opportunities beyond the classroom
NexGenโs impact extends beyond training, with the academy also playing a role in creating employment opportunities within the community.
For the past two years, NexGen has worked with the Greater Stellenbosch Trust as an implementation partner. During that time, the partnership has resulted in employment for 35 individuals from the community.
Three of those participants are currently employed at old age homes, including one at Huis Na Jaar in Despatch.
For Adrian, itโs another example of what NexGen is working towards: not simply equipping people with skills, but helping them access opportunities that can make a meaningful difference in their lives.
It also speaks to the academyโs commitment to giving back to the community that helped it get started.
Fabulous, but make it business
One of the most interesting things about Adrian is the contrast between his flamboyant personality and his incredibly serious approach to business.
He can be funny and wonderfully animated one moment, then launch into a detailed explanation of occupational qualifications, accreditation requirements and training standards the next.
And he knows his stuff.
But building NexGen hasnโt been easy.
There have been financial pressures, difficult partnerships and accreditation challenges. At one point, after a business partner left, he found himself juggling practically every position in the organisation.
Principal, lecturer, administrator, HR and director.
He jokingly called himself an octopus.
Quite frankly, eight arms probably would have helped.
He has also experienced judgement because of his sexuality and how he chooses to express himself.
But Adrian has never allowed that to stop him from pursuing his ambitions.
The heels donโt make him any less of a businessman. If anything, theyโre a reminder that people donโt have to fit into conventional boxes to be taken seriously.
And there are plenty of other layers to him.
He has appeared in an Afrikaans telenovela and short-film production called Diamond Linage, participated in conversations around gender-based violence and LGBTQI+ issues, and is a proud father to a 12-year-old daughter.
Mention her and thereโs another noticeable change in his expression.
For all his professional achievements, heโs clearly a very proud dad.
The business of believing in people
Six years into his journey, Adrianโs ambitions for NexGen are only growing.
He wants to expand the academy, create more opportunities and build something that will continue making a difference in the Eastern Cape.
He is particularly passionate about helping young people who, like him, may not have had the easiest start in life.
โTalent is everywhere. Opportunity isnโt,โ he says.
And perhaps thatโs what makes his story so compelling.
Adrian understands that giving someone an opportunity is about more than handing them a certificate. Sometimes itโs about helping them recognise their own potential.
Itโs something he seems to do quite naturally.
Because the same man who spends his days encouraging students to believe in themselves manages to make you feel that way during an ordinary conversation.
And somewhere between the tailored suits, fabulous heels, infectious personality and very serious business discussions, you realise something.
Adrian Wagener isnโt simply building a training academy.
Heโs building the kind of opportunities he once needed himself.
And heโs doing it entirely on his own terms.
People of the Bay is a 041Online series proudly sponsored by Mastertons Coffee & Tea Specialists, celebrating the personalities, stories and people who make Nelson Mandela Bay what it is.
Leave a Reply