Tshego Manche grew up in Klerksdorp and found sartorial visibility in big city Johannesburg.



Born in Klerksdorp, a small town in the North West Province of South Africa, Tshego Manche was raised in a business-oriented family.



Her parents owned a salon and cosmetic store in the township for over 20 years before venturing into other businesses.



“Coming from that environment, I already knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur,” says the 30-year-old fashionista today. “I aimed for what I am passionate about. Growing up,&nbsp;I always said I am&nbsp;a small town girl with big city dreams.”



Manche, known for her sartorial sense among friends, studied for a BCom degree in Marketing Management and whilst in varsity, worked at Pulsate, a fashion store in Africa’s richest square mile, Sandton, in Johannesburg.



“Two weeks after being employed, the owner flew down and said he had to meet me as there was a spike in sales. I was never afraid to approach people and tell them about the store, and also interact with customers. I then learned customer and marketing skills, and developed a deeper love for fashion which led me to want to start my own brand,” says Manche.



La Manche clothing was registered in early 2012 and was ready to put the all the theory into practice. Manche dropped out of varsity during her third year and went on to start selling on a small scale to friends and family, and she opened her physical store end of 2012.



Her mother contributed immensely to her startup and invested in clothing, packaging, and also paid for her flights and accommodation to look for stock in China and Turkey. The brand started growing. In 2014, she employed three workers, teamed up with stylists and magazine editors and the brand grew with sales doubling, she says.



“In 2015, we hit our million mark [offering local and international clothing]. From 2016 onwards, we hit a decline in sales as new entrants in the market came; rental for my space was also high and the location remote. In 2017, I started 100% custom-making; growth had been slow yet steady and I had nine employees by the end of 2019. I decided to close my physical store in April 2019 and stay with one employee.&nbsp;Now in 2020, we are focusing solely on the online space we have rebranded and restructured.”



The coronavirus also had an impact on business but this has taught her that digitizing the business is the best way to go. She also took to social media, encouraging other entrepreneurs during the tough times.



“I invited different people from different industries to come talk to people and engage about entrepreneurship every Monday for 10 weeks. We had one livestream with over 10,000 viewers,” says Manche.



Who would have thought a small town girl would encourage entrepreneurs in a big city to keep pushing ahead in the hard times.

Tshego Manche

The Small-Towner With Big Dreams For African Fashion

Home to Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile, Gauteng is gearing up for more action as a world-class hub for business tourism. And Nonnie Kubeka is driving it.

Gauteng, one of South Africa’s nine provinces, is a sought-after address for global brands and some of the continent’s biggest businesses. As Head: Gauteng Conventions &amp; Events Bureau, Nonnie Kubeka, who has 21 years of experience in marketing across several sectors, has the tough task of developing business tourism in the province through lifestyle events and the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) sector, which makes a sizeable contribution to Gauteng’s economy.
Describe the landscape of Gauteng and its offerings? 
We don’t have the sea or the mountains or iconic leisure [sites] where people come for holiday. We are a business destination, therefore business-related events are 70% of Gauteng’s push. Social beneficiation, social cohesion and job creation are a bigger part of the events. 
We have more than 400 venues that can accommodate the MICE space in Gauteng. In that, we have top heritage sites people are interested in. We have the Constitution Hill and Apartheid Museum, but when we bring business tourism to the destination, we don’t just bring business tourism according to market segments, but in terms of sectors. We are big on research that attracts people to come do business here.
How does Gauteng differ from the rest of Africa? 
We are the economic powerhouse and that is why when we do business tourism, it is for the benefit of the economy. For us to maintain our status in business tourism, we don’t grow the market, we draw the sectors so that everybody from all over the world can come and contribute to our economy.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2018/09/10/why-we-need-hard-cash-into-the-economy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Why We Need ‘Hard Cash In The Economy’</a>
As the richest square mile in Africa, what does Sandton attract? 
We have got the Sandton Convention Centre that in the whole of Gauteng can accommodate more than 30,000 people at a time and we utilize that particular center to attract more business into Sandton and the nice thing about it is that it’s a precinct. People want to walk from the center itself to the hotels and the bed nights we get out of Sandton are more than 15,000 at a time, so it becomes much easier to host a big conference. The combination of shopping, convention centers, hotels and dining is a unique offering.
Are there any trends you have picked up in the last year? 
We have had disruptors in the digital space where people join conferences through web-streaming. They have not succeeded on a bigger scale. Conferences are about networking. Face-to-face gatherings are important. We are gathering people in business – that is where they share deals and ideas. Instead of going to golf courses for networking, they would rather go to a conference where they will gather knowledge and meet the relevant people they can leverage on. Business tourism will not be affected by the digital space.
What are the objectives of the Gauteng Conventions &amp; Events Bureau? 
Township revitalization, meaning giving business to the township. The inclusive economy includes small businesses and women-owned businesses. Business tourism is about inclusive economy and transformation of disadvantaged people. Women take leadership in organizing professional international conferences. Business tourism is not as big as leisure tourism in our country; it has just started so we are using it to revitalize what women can do within that particular space.
How does South Africa benefit from medical tourism? 
We are like India and the UK, and especially in South Africa, you get a lot of specialists. We package it in a way that friends and family can also come and visit through the process. Most people who come for medical tourism stay on in the country or the province for three months or more. Sometimes, they take the whole bed-and-breakfast [options] with their families especially when [they are] next to the hospital. We have an example in Tembisa where a guesthouse [hosts] patients and their families. We have packages for them to go to the botanical gardens to de-stress for instance. This tourism also includes the doctor conferences.

LION4873

All Roads To The Economic Powerhouse

The 33rd edition of the South African fashion week kicked off with a bang this year. Celebrating fashion from the spring and summer collection, we had a look at what some of our local designers brought this year. Forbes Africa’s Karen Mwendera filed this report.

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Glitz And Glam At The South African Fashion Week

Investors speak of that once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity. The one that yields exceptional returns coupled with unparalleled security – in short the Holy Grail of investment. Right now, that’s the phrase being used to describe the building that is inching its way up the Sandton skyline. The Leonardo is the Legacy Group and Nedbank Ltd’s latest mixed-use development, and it’s not only breathing new life into the famous skyline, but generating enormous buzz among investors in the financial capital of Africa.
The Leonardo is nestled in the heart of the vibrant and rapidly expanding precinct of Sandton, and can be found at 75 Maude Street. It is within walking distance of the Gautrain and all major businesses, and is also adjacent to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). From this prime location, which represents the best of a frankly unequalled South African lifestyle.
“The Leonardo epitomises the ideal of a mixed-use development – a means to live-work-play in the lap of luxury, with every creature comfort and convenience at your fingertips a simple lift ride away,” says Gijs Foden, director of sales. “For residents this means a secure, luxurious living space, full concierge service, a crèche, a rooftop garden restaurant, coffee shop, heated pool, gyms and manicured gardens, and possibly even a commute to work that involves taking the lift a few floors down. For businesses it means much of the above, plus premium office space, and  an in house business and conference centre.”
The Leondardo will comprise commercial, sectional title office space; 230 one-, two- three- and four-bedroom apartments; eight penthouses; and the pièce-de-la resistance, The Leonardo Suite – a 2,880 square metre, three-floor penthouse with a 360-degree view, whose asking price of R250-million will make it the most expensive sectional title property ever sold in South Africa.
“The apartment component of the building starts from the 16th floor up, to ensure stunning views for every owner. Demand is high, and as we begin selling the higher floors, I expect the capital values of the properties will skyrocket, as was our experience with The Michelangelo Towers and the DAVINCI. I have no doubt that investors will view the The Leonardo in the same light as these highly successful properties, namely a dollar safe investment that protects their rands in a world class development.”
The Leonardo will offer investors and owners all the creature comforts of a five-star hotel. With a hassle free rental-pool option, owners moreover maximise their investments through a new rental structure.
“The Leonardo has everything going for it; not least of which is its development at the hands of Legacy – one of the continent’s most experienced and highly regarded developers in the luxury lifestyle, office, apartment, property and hotels industries. There’s a very good reason investors are so hyped up about this development, it truly is one  you don’t want to miss out on. But really you can’t make a call from simply hearing about it and I appeal to potential investors to come and take a look for themselves,” concludes Foden.
Investors can acquire additional information from Gijs Foden on +27 76 860 0260 email: gfoden@legacygroup.co.za; <a href="http://www.legacyliving.co.za" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.legacyliving.co.za</a>.

Legacy Reaches For The Sky With “The Leonardo” Mixed-Use Development

We wait 20 minutes before Siphile Buthelezi walks into his offices in Sandton sporting a tailored suit. On his table is a pile of documents and files of more than 20 clients of his law business. Not too bad for a young man who grew up in a squatter camp, in Clermont, in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.
“I start my day by going to the gym, then come to the office to check emails, draft legal opinions and, if it’s a day for litigation, I go to court. If I have board meetings I don’t even come to the office, and once I’m done I come and work until midnight,” says Buthelezi, Co-founder and Managing Director of Buthelezi Vilakazi Inc, a corporate and commercial law firm.
Buthelezi talks fast, with his hands, and has many stories to tell of his short but eventful 34 years of life.
“I’m the eldest of three children and we stayed in a one-roomed shack. So, we’d sleep on a mattress on the floor and my parents slept on the bed. So we would hear everything that happened at night,” he says.
His mother, a domestic worker, desperately wanted her son to be educated, and his father, a construction worker, walked him to school.
“My dad didn’t go to school at all. Even today, he can’t write; for him to write his name he needs to look at his ID but what I admire about him is he valued education,” says Buthelezi.
“My mom would come home, and it still pains me that she’d come with what was supposed to be her lunch at work, four slices of bread, and say this was supposed to be my lunch I brought it for you guys.”
According to Buthelezi, the environment made him want to be a gangster.
“In the squatter camp environment; you get exposed to different people and things, for example there’s a sheeben next door and sometimes you find that your understanding of a successful person is a thug who drives a nice car,” says Buthelezi.
Instead Buthelezi left school for music.
“Growing up I did music and danced for kwaito stars, Mzambiya and Msawawa. I enjoyed it but I knew I couldn’t do it for free,” he says.
This led to him buying a bus ticket to Johannesburg.
“I remember at the time a ticket was R100 (around $7.50), so my group and I came here for more gigs and at some point I wanted to be a full time musician.”
Johannesburg changed his mind.
“What was interesting is that when I got to meet more celebrities I realized their lives are not as glamourous as they make it out to be. There was a group called Tribe, one of the members asked us for R5 and for me that was a shock because I’d see these people on T.V. and then one of them was asking us for money. It was a wake-up call,” says Buthelezi.
Buthelezi went home and toiled at a construction company where his father worked. He used his money from music money to register at university. Luckily his mom’s employer also helped.
“My mom packed my bags and took me to the bus station, she gave me R20 and these are the words I’ll never forget, ‘my son this is all I have but there’s one thing I know, God will be with you’. She had tears of joy that I was starting at varsity but also because she couldn’t give me more,” says Buthelezi.
For Buthelezi, going to university was a dream. He knew he’d be better off at campus than at home.
“In the squatter camps people play music until the early hours of the morning. How are you going to study?”
It was four years of struggle, especially with English.
“Having studied at a public school, and not a model C school, there was a culture shock.  And I had to learn everything in English and some of the professors were foreigners who didn’t pronounce words the way they should have,” he says.
As a result, he failed his first test in constitutional law with just 8%. It took him a few months for his grades to improve. Meanwhile the study loan didn’t cover everything.
“I didn’t have money to buy clothes, food and books. I also got a bursary from Cecil Reynolds charity bursary for outstanding academic performer which covered part of my fees,” says Buthelezi.
In his second year, Buthelezi had a plan up his sleeve.
“My plan was to take part of the [student loan] money, get a driver’s license and a professional driving permit. I approached one of the taxi owners; I asked him if he could give me a chance to drive on weekends. I put it in a way that I’d be relieving drivers then I started driving from Friday ‘til Monday. The owner started rotating his drivers and one driver would be off on certain weekends and I’d take over, they’d even bring the taxi to me on campus.”
“In my first load there’s a lady whom I won’t forget, a classmate, when I got into the taxi, she said ‘are we ever going to get where we’re going’.” Buthelezi shakes his heads and grins.
He’d make about $20 a day. His fellow drivers called him Sfundiswa – loosely translated: the learned one.
“I’d carry my books to the rank, and while waiting for my load I would take it out and study and when the taxi is full I’d put it away and drive off to my destination,” he says.
Hardship was just around the corner. It hurt so much when a girlfriend dumped him that he wanted to kill himself.
“I can tell you now I’ve never been heart broken by anyone but that lady. I loved her with all my heart, I wrote her name on each and every book I had.”
Buthelezi met his wife Slindile, a doctor, on Facebook through a friend and realized that their families knew each other.
The years of struggle paid off – a law degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Fresh out of university, Buthelezi was hired as a candidate attorney at Bowman Gilfillan, a large firm based in Johannesburg.
“In my first year of doing articles I paid off the study loan, I did not wait to build a home for my parents, or take care of myself because I knew the difference it made in my life. I knew my first obligation was to think of another Siphile who needs the loan to study,” says Buthelezi.
He spent a year in New York working for Davis Polk &amp; Wardwell LLP, a law firm where he worked in the Credit and Capital Markets Departments and at Morgan Stanley, an investment bank.
Later, he built his family a five-roomed house.
In 2015, he started Buthelezi Vilakazi Inc, with Amanda Vilakazi, the company’s Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution. It has another office in Umhlanga Ridge, in Durban.
“I wanted to do other things, not just law, but get into business that I couldn’t do at the time and to also serve our government in audit committees.”
Buthelezi is also the Co-Founder at RadioVybe, a social media app; Non-Executive Director at South African Airways (SAA); Board Chair at SAA Technical, and Deputy Chair at KZN Growth Fund.
“As a boss, I expect the best from anyone who works for the firm. I expect the best documents to go out to clients.  Clients of the firm are my clients and anyone who works for me needs to treat me as their client. They need to impress me as I impress my clients,” says Buthelezi.
“Never even once undermine any type of work, another person would have said no to taxi driving. Many young people say no to doing odd jobs. In those jobs you meet interesting people; when they see you’re focused, they open doors for you. Opportunities given, grab them with both hands, run and never look back.”
Unlike his first taxi passengers, Buthelezi is certain he will get where he is going.

A Ride From A  Taxi Driver  To Legal Eagle

It’s a hot summer’s day in Sandton, Johannesburg. As we meet, the sun blazes bright like Titan’s fiery wheels. Brightness has played a big part in Johan Botes’ journey to entrepreneurship. On this day, the future is even brighter; he has just opened an office in Fourways, Johannesburg, 254 kilometers away from Mokopane, in northern Limpopo, where he took his first breath in 1962.
“I am so happy that the company is growing from strength to strength and most importantly providing jobs for young people who deserve every opportunity,” he says.
Botes employs 55 permanent staff and 12 contractors in five countries. The average age is 27. The company merges accounting and IT to make businesses quicker and reliant on fewer staff.
“The drive and energy of our team is one reason we’re growing so fast. We recruit entrepreneurial, self-motivated people at a young age and embed them into our business. They’re adaptable, quick to learn and ready to work overseas independently. We’re very strategic in our recruitment process – we’ll only take people with the right cultural fit, business acumen, and energy level to succeed in a global workplace,” he says.
Building a successful business was hard and sweaty. For three years after high school, Botes came face to face with rifles and drill in the army as a conscript.
With teachers for parents, he was inspired to save for university fees. Hard work earned him a career as a chartered accountant, working for Deloitte, before going into private practice as an auditor and then returning to Deloitte for a five-year stint. Here he learned about the enterprise resource planning (ERP) market. Botes swapped his well-paid job to start Consilia Technology Investments – a company that provides technology for business – in 2012.
“First we started the business as Consilia Consult; after a year, we realized we are not a consulting company but a technology business and we changed it to Consilia Technology. We can take all your database services; optimize it to make the business work,” he says.
According to Botes, the management information system integrates areas such as planning, purchasing, inventory, sales, marketing, finance and human resources. He started the business after realizing that clients in South Africa were finding the existing high-end ERP packages expensive and complicated. He decided to build a business around Sage ERP X3 software – a solution designed to be more flexible and affordable.
“Our view is that accountants are a dying breed. Systems are taking over. You can automate almost all the accounting systems in a business today through, for example, barcoding and scanning. It changes the fundamentals of business completely. One of our clients is a logistics company that requires daily costs per vehicle everyday per component such as tyres, fuel and maintenance. We give them a report per vehicle in different categories so they can see which vehicles are making profit, without having to capture one thing. Everything is available on a phone, iPad or computer. You can sit in front of a TV and authorize payments,” he says.
Botes says that the immediate priority for Consilia is to bed down its businesses in its new offshore territories before looking at other markets.
“We’ve been cash-generative since the start and have not had to take on debt to grow our business. We believe that if we offer a skill that is in demand worldwide, and do good work at a good price, we’ll continue to grow strongly in the years to come.”
He says there is a market for businesses like his in the continent and entrepreneurs should take note and keep employees smiling.
“As a young person, to start up a business and get funding is difficult. Since we started, 21 people have gotten shares. They haven’t paid for them yet but they pay from dividends. They have three years to pay up. We give them a discount of 80 percent. If you show someone that you trust them and you give them something, they become involved and want to see the business grow. One of the young guys said to me no one in his life has ever given him anything,” he says.
The future seems bright for Botes.

‘Accountants  Are A Dying Breed

The idea of the EcoMobility World Festival was an experiment to ease pressure on the hard pressed roads of African cities. So, traffic police bearing fences moved in to seal Sandton, the business district and home to Africa’s largest financial institutions, where 75,000 cars arrive every day. The idea was to keep most of the cars out and push public transport.
This hasn’t gone down well with many motorists, who struggle to find an alternative.
“This is the biggest load of crap,” shouted a lady as she drove by Sandton’s main artery, West Street, which has been reduced to one lane.
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“It’s just not practical. All big businesses are in Sandton and I’ve got to go company to company. I’ve just left Merrill Lynch now and I have to be in Randburg in 20 minutes, which wouldn’t be a problem. Now I just might need to cancel because of this,” says Sharoma Mahal, a consultant working in Sandton.
“It’s our first visit to Sandton during the EcoMobility Festival so far and we’ve come by Gautrain instead of by vehicle for a meeting. There aren’t too many disruptions so far, just that we have to walk 400 meters,” says a passing businessman.
“It hasn’t been too much of a change, traffic has picked up in areas like Midrand but it hasn’t been a huge change,” says Geoffrey Sugden, who works in Sandton.
Business too felt the pinch, as many customers ended up on the other side of the fence. Petrol station owner, Shane Singh, says he has lost money and is considering cutting jobs.
“It’s a real challenge because we need the vehicles. People need to use their vehicles so we can put petrol in them. If that’s not happening then our business really suffers. If you look at my forecourt, I’ve got one car with like four petrol attendants,” says Singh.
The Mayor of Johannesburg, Parks Tau, is behind the idea and thinks it is the future.
“We’ve built relationships with corporates. The role that corporates are going to play relates to, amongst others, introducing incentives for people to use different modes of transport,” says Tau.
True to the entrepreneurial spirit, whenever there’s a hurdle to overcome, you will find an entrepreneur. In the midst of the festival and its challenges, a business has mushroomed near the Gautrain station in Sandton.
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Santa Scheepers hired out motorcycles for short trips around Sandton.
“A shared use system is important, especially having alternative transport which will be eco-friendly as well. That is the motivation behind the electric motorcycles, that and making money of course,” chuckles Scheepers.
If the EcoMobility concept works, it could become permanent in Africa’s golden square mile and maybe spread across the continent. Watch out for fences first thing in the morning.

Good Green Intentions But…

It’s a chilly night; a group of Africa’s highest paid people crowd around fires and set up their sleeping bags in Sandton to raise awareness for the homeless. They’ve brought the brands with them on hot water bottles, sleeping bags, charging stations, shoe shiners, a mini golf course and soup made by one of South Africa’s finest chefs. This may have been surreal but the 702 Sun International CEO SleepOut raised more than $2 million for Girls &amp; Boys Town, an NGO that helps troubled children.
Just a few miles away, in the cold streets of Johannesburg, people who are forced to sleep on the street huddle into an abandoned sports college. In the worn-down buildings with cardboard roofs, piles of rubbish and graffiti covered walls, there’s room for 50, but home to 300. The shelter is called Bekezela and rightly so, it means to be patient. But patience wears thin without running water, electricity or toilets.
“As South African people, we feel like outsiders here,” say many.
Despite this yawning gap on a cold night, there are links between the haves and the have nots.
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Migrants
Johannesburg is home to immigrants, in search of fortune, from Swaziland to Portugal.
For Maria Ramos, the CEO of Barclays Africa, her venture to Johannesburg began with university. Born in Portugal, her family left for Mozambique in the 1960s. Like many, she moved to Johannesburg for the promise of a better tomorrow. Accumulating degrees and accolades, she soon went up the ranks.
“I think the opportunity to have a lot of conversations has been the most eye-opening part for me, a lot of the conversations we’ve been having have been around the fact that when we put our minds together we can really rally around big issues and find solutions. I think it’s important because as South Africans and Africans we have a lot of challenges but we also have phenomenal opportunities to find solutions to those challenges,” says Ramos.
In Bekezela, challenges are plenty and solutions are few. A migrant from Swaziland, Thoko Mabila’s story is as far from the CEO of Barclays as can be. She came to Johannesburg at 18 in search of work and slept on the street at first. She trips over her words, she isn’t sure about her age. She worked as a domestic worker in Mayfair, a predominantly Indian area in the city center, but the family moved and she struggled to get work again. Her arm is adorned with Indian plastic bangles, from the family she worked for. Mabila was diagnosed HIV positive five years ago.
“I need to take ARV’s but they’re hard to get and when I get them, I can’t take them if I don’t eat,” says Mabila.
She doesn’t have the energy to work anymore and doesn’t know when her next meal is.
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“I just want the world to know about us, they need to know we’re suffering,” she says.
Leaders
Elected the Premier of Gauteng in 2014, David Makhura’s career began in student and youth politics. As the ANC provincial secretary, he oversaw policy implementation and governance. Kitted out in South African gear, Makhura is surrounded by a cluster of people hanging on his every word.
“We’re out here to make a contribution to feel and see that we’re helping somebody that might be in hopeless circumstances, we’re giving them hope. We’re giving them a second chance in life so they can see that life is worth living. Many of them could be our leaders,” says Makhura.
Across the tracks, there’s uncertainty for Bekezela, but their leader clings on to hope. Nhlanhla Khumalo is quiet and broody – he speaks English, but rarely chooses to. Living in Bekezela since 1998, he moved to Johannesburg from the Eastern Cape with his wife, Lucia Khumalo – the self-proclaimed “mother of Bekezela”. In 2012, he was granted a court order, the rights to Bekezela. The last three years he has been embroiled in a battle against Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) who want to build a railway through the land.
“Who’s fighting for us? It’s not our leaders,” says Khumalo.
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The 12-Year Stretch
Twelve years means a world of difference. For Faith Khanyile, the CEO of WDB Investment Holdings, it meant success with Standard Bank in the Corporate and Investment Banking division. Her 12-year stint was a stepping stone – she is now the chairperson of Standard Bank’s structured debt finance equity forum and director of Uthingo Management Services. Clutching on to her hot water bottle, she’s dressed in thick layers and huddled next to the fire; aware that it’s going to be a sleepless night.
“We’re here, we’re uncomfortable, we’re outside of our beds and away from our families – it’s just going someway to experience what they experience. Obviously they sleep outside every night. But for one night, we want to really be with them and experience what they go through,” says Khanyile.
For Lucas Sithole, his experience is far from warm clothes and hot water bottles. He’s lived in Bekezela for 12 years, where he sleeps on a board under a makeshift porch. He’s one of the city’s army of people who collect rubbish on the streets and then sells it to recycling companies. He wakes up at the crack of dawn – there is competition between recyclers and garbage trucks. He goes through dustbins – finding things to recycle, things to keep. He walks the length and breadth of the northern suburbs lugging a trolley triple his weight. Sometimes people give him clothes, like his prized leather jacket. He works long hours but for 12 years he’s had no running water and no room to sleep in.
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They’re worlds apart. After the 12-hour event, CEOs across the city returned to their luxurious homes and climbed into warm beds. The residents of Bekezela didn’t.

A Winter’s Tale Of  Two Sleepouts

Five minutes, we are told, is all we will get with Dr Deepak Chopra, and there is a gaggle of journalists waiting to meet him, one by one, at the Michelangelo in Sandton, Johannesburg. The ballroom where he is seated, on a lone high-backed, jacquard-print chair at the far end, is somehow, unwittingly, reminiscent of the private durbar of an Indian guru. But the Los Angeles-based Chopra says he is no Indian mystic – “I do not buy into labels”. He is unassuming in a black shirt, jeans and red trainers, and has a calm, gentle voice:
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<h4>The New York Times has called you ‘a controversial new age guru’. Why controversial?</h4>
I wouldn’t have a career without controversy. If nobody criticizes you, you go unnoticed. I owe my career to my critics, I think of them as my best friends.
<h4>People have accused you of selling false hopes and that your methods are unscientific. How do you react?</h4>
I used to react [at one time], but not anymore. Over the last 35 years, I have been in a way vindicated. There are newer sciences like neuroplasticity and epigenetics, and the mind-body connection is well-established. My courses are recognized by the American Medical Association. I have a faculty position at the Medical School in the University of California. I lecture once a year at Harvard, we have medical students coming for training, the Chopra Center University California is recognized…
You use quantum mechanics for healing. How has that been accepted?
It’s very controversial [and] very highly criticized, but I am rewriting and updating quantum healing now after 30 years because of the new science. Everything I said before is true but there is more science.
<h4>The brain seems to now be a focus in management discussions. Why?</h4>
Because of the findings that you can wire your brain for optimum wellbeing and leadership. You can learn through various techniques mindfulness, self-awareness, contemplation, meditation…you can rewire your brain in a way you feel more connected, but you can also harness intuition, insight, creativity, imagination and leadership skills.
<h4>What about prayer and spirituality in wellbeing?</h4>
When your mind is quiet, and with focused awareness, you can harness the power of intention. What people call prayer I would call focused awareness. There is a chapter in the Yoga Sutras (sacred Indian text) of Patanjali that deals with that. It’s called Dhyan, Dharna, Samadhi – dhyan is meditation, dharna is focused awareness and samadhi is transcendence.
When is emotional and financial wellbeing truly achieved?
Ten percent of your daily happiness experience comes from your bank account, 50% comes from your attitude to life and the remaining comes from the daily choices you make…People in Cuba are more happy than the people in the United States. Because when people focus on relationships, they are much happier.
<h4>Do you see more of that now?</h4>
No [shaking head]…less and less. On their dying day, they would say I wish I had worked one extra day and made more money.
<h4>What is your own net worth?</h4>
If you know your net worth, then you are not wealthy enough. Honestly, I don’t look at my bank statements, I have never seen one. My wife and accountant take care of everything, and they make sure all my taxes are paid. I only carry $300 in my pocket, one credit card and have $30,000 in my bank account. I don’t need more than that for my needs.
<h4>What do you have planned for the year ahead?</h4>
I have written 81 books, and the next is a book of fiction [released in March], called The 13th Disciple. I have done 12 fiction books, out of which four were New York Times bestsellers. I have a book [coming up] at the end of the year called Super Genes; it’s a book about how you activate your genes for optimum wellbeing.

5 Minutes With Deepak Chopra

It was a hot summer’s day, just after midday in November 2003. John Field was sitting at his office in the wealthy suburb of Sandton, South Africa, when the phone rang.
“The Scorpions are coming!” said a colleague from Investec.
The Scorpions were the country’s feared anti-corruption investigative unit, now known as the Hawks. The word was that the Scorpions were coming not only to raid his company, FedGroup Holdings, but to close its doors.
The Scorpions never came, but it triggered years of turmoil. They left FedGroup to the Financial Services Board (FSB)—the regulator for the financial service industry.
“It was four years, but that first day was terrible. It’s hard to actually put it into words,” says Field.
The writing had been on the wall a week before. Field had received a letter from FSB saying it had found irregularities in his participation bond company, FedBond—a subsidiary of FedGroup Holdings, a family-owned investment and trust company.
If the Scorpions or FSB closed down FedGroup, Field would lose everything he had built since 1990. He founded the company; a participation bond company, FedBond and later FedTrust, which dealt in trusts, wills and estates. His investors, including around 10,000 pensioners, stood to lose everything.
It was a sorry chapter in a company Field had been working towards since 1984. In that year, he applied for a participation bond license from FSB, but it took six years, longer than he had expected. In 1989, Field bought the smallest participation bond scheme in the country at the time, Haley’s Trust—later renamed FedBond—for R100,000 ($39,000). It was the simplest way he could get a license to manage his own company. He registered the bonds at R340,000 ($133,700) and grew the investment to R1.6 billion ($271.6 million) in 10 years, to become the largest participation bond scheme in the country. A participation bond provides investors with the certainty of capital preservation, coupled with the consistency on interest.
All was going well until the letter from FSB stated that the company should stop receiving new investments. The inspectors from FSB said the company appeared to be cash-strapped and that the scheme did not qualify as a participation mortgage bond scheme.
A few days later, Field and members of his board were summoned for a meeting at FSB’s offices. The FSB registrar told them that, based on a report by inspectors, FedBond was terminally ill and declining in financial soundness. This was mainly because the properties bonded by the scheme were unsound or not generating sufficient income to be able to pay participants their interest and capital payments. FSB said FedBond had a net shortfall of R4.3 million ($584,200) in August 2003. The registrar concluded what the team dreaded: that FSB would apply for curatorship. This is a way of guiding an ailing company back to health, under the stewardship of a new management team.
“To this day I cannot understand what the rationale was to try to close us down. It just did not make sense,” says Field.
Prior to its court appeal in support for curatorship, the FSB had called Field to take over management of around three poorly run participation bond schemes. In every case, not a single investor lost any capital and all continued to receive monthly interest on their investment.
While Field was trying to grapple with how to handle the situation, Investec made an offer to FSB to purchase FedBond out of curatorship.
On December 3, 2003, FedBond was informed of a court application for curatorship. Not knowing his fate, Field withdrew R250,000 ($39,500) from his account to give to his wife and four sons, while preparing for the worst and the possibility of arrest.
The court turned down FSB’s urgent application for curatorship. Field’s lawyer told him that they had agreed on a joint management agreement, whereby a monitor would be appointed to oversee the operations of the company. The judge wanted to give FSB time to prove its claims, by postponing court proceeding to January 2004.
These court proceedings were then postponed to February, when a monitor was appointed. The monitor would  look for any reason FedBond should be out of business.
In June 2004, the monitor submitted his first report to the court. It was positive. He recommended that the company be allowed to make capital repayments to its participants. Following this, the FSB registrar submitted an affidavit saying the company would not be able to cope financially and that it should remain under curatorship. The court extended the monitorship to January 2005. The agony for the company would continue, but Field refused to go down without a fight.
January came around, when Field worked on an affidavit with his legal team to apply for dismissal of FSB’s application for curatorship, because he believed there was no good reason for it. Having heard counsel from both parties and read documents submitted, the judge agreed to postpone the application again, to June 2005.
To make matters worse, Investec applied to join FSB’s application for curatorship of FedBond, claiming that it had a R344 million ($60.5 million) stake in Field’s company. When Investec bought out Fedsure, FedBond was one of the subsidiaries, of which Field was sole shareholder. Field had pre-emptive rights to the FedBond shares and Investec reluctantly parted with them. As part of the deal, Investec left the R344 million ($60.5 million) in FedBond as bridging finance to serve as security for non-performing bonds. Field maintained that the funds were never part of the scheme. Investec now claimed it was a participant and should therefore be secured and ranked equally with all the other participants in the scheme.
During the same period, Field became aware that confidential information relating to the company’s business was doing the rounds in the financial sector. A private investigator was called to scan their offices for surveillance equipment. A bugging device was found in Field’s office. He couldn’t find the culprit and had to be careful about what he said in the office.
Following months of negotiations with Investec, a deal was reached in July 2005. Field gave up R150 million ($21.8 million) to Investec. They agreed that it was the end of the bridging finance and also agreed to withdraw their request for FedBond to go under curatorship.
Investec was off his back, the remaining challenge was to get rid of FSB’s application for curatorship.
After numerous bad days, it wasn’t becoming any easier. At every court appearance there seemed to be a postponement. While Field was fighting FSB, his business was suffering. He attended another court hearing in October 2005, but judgment was reserved until December 2005. FSB’s application was dismissed.
Early in 2006, Field’s lawyers requested permission for FedBond to take in new investments from the public, but FSB refused. Without the funds, Field would not be able to make capital repayments.
Following a meeting with Field and FSB, a new monitor was appointed in November of the same year. He would do the same job as his predecessor. The back and forth between FSB and FedBdond would continue for nearly four years, meanwhile FedBond was losing money and clients. Of the 15,000 FedBond participants, 12,000 remained. Around R70 million ($9.3 million) was paid out to those who left.
“We had people ask us for their money. We repaid them and then a week or a month later they put the money back into the scheme. They just wanted to know if we had sufficient money to do that capital repayment. And we did. Every single cent,” says Field.
By June 2007, the company was still unable to accept new funds. Field approached FSB, but without success. Two months later, two weeks before an appearance at the Supreme Court, where an appeal was to be heard, FSB requested a meeting with Field.
FSB was thinking of withdrawing the appeal. It was reported in newspapers that the minister of finance intervened, because it was not in FSB’s interest to continue depleting their budget indefinitely in the pursuit of an application for curatorship that was going nowhere.
Once the dust settled, three months later, FSB granted FedBond permission to take in new funds and continue its activities. Though, it was not easy for Field to kick start the company. By the end of October 2007, after four years, seven court hearings and court appeals, his company had lost around R400 million ($57.8 million) worth of investments. The company’s reputation was damaged, but Field and his team worked hard to win back trust and survive.

Lawyers, Bugs And Trouble

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu—this age-old Zulu proverb explains the spirit of ubuntu; translated it reads “A person is a person through others” but many paraphrase it to “I am because we are”.
You’ll find Ubuntu in any close-knit community where neighbors help each other with anything from sharing sugar and bread to babysitting and mourning. Ubuntu in business is called philanthropy. The Latin origins of the word means the love of humankind; the desire to promote the welfare of others, mostly, through the generous donation of money to good causes.
In a historic press event in a plush Sandton hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa’s richest black man, Patrice Motsepe announced that he and his wife, Precious, would donate half of their family fortune to philanthropic causes during their lifetime and beyond.
The room was full, from clergymen and traditional leaders to South African businesses’ top brass as well as ministers and union leaders. Among them were Pamodzi CEO, Ndaba Ntsele; Jessica Motaung, daughter of Kaizer Chiefs FC owner Kaizer Motaung; chairman of Shell SA, Bonang Mohale; Zulu nation Monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini; basic education minister, Angie Motshekga and Archbishop Tutu’s daughters to name a few.
<div id="attachment_7" style="width: 209px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-7" class="size-medium wp-image-7" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/280-261_1-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" />Patrice Motsepe, Johannesburg; 19 August 2011 &#8211; Photo by Brett Eloff</div>
“We want to build a track record where ordinary South Africans feel we’re making a humble contribution,” says the 8th richest African.
He assured the audience that he would make sure his children continued the tradition.
The move put the Motsepes on a list of elites who have pledged to give a majority of their wealth to philanthropy. They are the first Africans to join the Giving Pledge, founded by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010. Today, it has nearly 100 members including New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg; world-famous designer, Diane von Furstenberg; Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg and PayPal co-founder, Elon Musk.
Is this pledge a new trend in business or just an age-old tradition of ubuntu under a new light?
This is not the Motsepes’ first contribution, in 1999 they started the Motsepe Foundation, which to date has donated around R40-R50 million ($4.5-5.6 million) to business development. Last year alone they gave R20 million ($2.3 million) to major churches in South Africa. They say this move is just an acceleration of what they’ve established.
While the Motsepes have had a lucky turn of fortune, it wasn’t always that way.
“There were times when we had nothing… When I came back from America we had so many loans that we couldn’t pay our children’s school fees [and] we had to send them to good schools. But there was always belief because we come from parents who succeeded during the years when there was no black economic empowerment,” says Motsepe.
But many ask themselves whether other African entrepreneurs and companies will follow in Motsepe’s footsteps.
Philip Fauré, head of Citadel Philanthropy Advisors, says there are many wealthy entrepreneurs who are philanthropists but prefer to remain under the radar.
“Africans are more private than Americans,” says Fauré.
He also says that they avoid requests for money and security risks by doing things privately. However, he is quick to emphasize the difference between philanthropy and charity by using a fishing analogy—philanthropy is teaching one how to fish.
“Charity is never going to go away; aid is not the solution,” says Fauré.
He also says that philanthropy is a major industry worldwide, mostly in the States. He hopes that more prominent South African families will give publically.
There are a number of other African billionaires who are active philanthropists.
In 2012 alone, Johann Rupert, the third richest African and CEO of luxury goods group Richemont, gave his R3.6 million ($406,700) annual salary to charity. The Oppenheimers—the second richest family in Africa—donated R1 billion ($112.9 million) to support education in South Africa. In Nigeria, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, gave away around $35 million and Zenith Bank founder, Jim Ovia, gave away an estimated $6.6 million. And Zimbabwe’s richest man, Strive Masiyiwa, gave away around $6.4 million.
According to wealth management company Galileo Capital, if Motsepe plans to give away half of his wealth—bearing in mind his current net worth of $2.65 billion, interest and inflation—he will give away around $40 million annually to his philanthropic missions.

Tag: Sandton

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