Afropolitans Top 20

Top 10 Creative Spirts

Nkhensani Nkosi
Designing Entrepreneur

Perhaps it was fate that decreed otherwise. But had circumstances not turned out differently, fashion luminary and trailblazing entrepreneur, Nkhensani Nkosi, would probably be counted in the league of the country’s leading actors and actresses – a super achiever on stage, TV and screen. Instead, at 21, the talented actress who toured the world acting in the historic Market Theatre production, Sophiatown, and starred in Mfundi Vundla’s movie, Soweto Green, had other ideas and dreams. Her dream was “to start a business that would contribute to changing how South Africans feel about themselves and how the rest of the world feels about Africa.” That business became Stoned Cherrie, a black urban fashion brand and one of the first local clothing brands to be retailed as an exclusive designers’ range by one of the country’s largest and upmarket chain stores, Woolworths. And in its 10-year existence, Stoned Cherrie has become a leading fashion label famous for evocative images that express an African identity. These are 50’s iconic images from old DRUM covers. Her creative designs have won her scores of awards and accolades, notably the Best Ladies’ Wear Award (2002), Young Business Achiever Award and L’Oreal/Fairlady Catherine Lifetime Achievement Award (2005).

Sibongile Khumalo
Versatile Vocalist

Sibongile Khumalo has been described as the country’s First Lady of Song. Nelson Mandela saluted her dedication and gift of song when he referred to her as ”our national treasure”. She’s a magnificent and visionary artist whose repertoire mirrors the country’s rich and diverse musical heritage. Her debut album, Ancient Evenings (1996), was a recording milestone that paid homage to the cultural and artistic diversity of the great South African songbook – a treasure trove of the country’s rich choral, jazz, classical and folk traditions. Versatile and flexible, South Africa’s leading soprano continues to perform and record music that reflects not only our diverse cultural heritage but the spirit of a new nation that’s grappling to come to terms with its painful past. As the daughter of Khabi Mngoma, a classical and choral master, her future as a musician was written in the stars. And from an early age, the 1993 Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner was already performing behind a piano as a pupil of legendary musicians Emily Motsieloa and Princess Magogo Ka Dinuzulu. Her latest album, Sibongile Khumalo Live!, salutes some of the country’s foremost composers including Hugh Masekela, Caiphus Semenya and Allen Kwela.

Lebogang Mashile
Spoken Word Phenomenon

It’s been poignantly observed that this young dynamo’s poetry “takes flight from the page to the stage and back again” to create visual and verbal magic. Lebo Mashile’s vibrant and versatile approach to poetry performance is peerless. The effect of the beauty, power and mystique of her live renditions has been likened to a thrilling silk ribbon drawn through the ripples of the listener’s brain. Her stirring verses are inspiring, thought-provoking and crusading. As a leading voice on the local and international spoken-word circuit, she’s enthralled poetry lovers in distant lands such as Cuba, Jamaica and the United States. Her highly acclaimed debut anthology, aptly titled In A Ribbon Of Rhythm, won her the coveted Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 2006; at 27, she was arguably the youngest recipient ever. Her 2008 follow-up, Flying Above The Sky, underscores her creative prowess and added another feather to her cap as a self-published poet – alongside multiple roles that include television presenting and acting. She acted in the Academy Award-nominated film about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Hotel Rwanda. Blessed with a creative intellect and sense of mission, Mashile is totally focused on her craft and continues to explore unimagined frontiers in the magical forest of words.

Zakes Zanemvula Mda
Groundbreaking Wordsmith

Writer and academic Zakes Mda is on of the most articulate voices that emerged in post-1994 South African literature. At a time when writers were debating the way forward, the Ohio-based professor of literature and African studies was already causing massive waves in the literary world following the publication of his extraordinary novel Ways Of Dying. Its protagonist, a professional mourner, proved that the writer was pushing literary frontiers in his quest to explore fresh themes and innovative ways of fiction writing. Since then he hasn’t disappointed, publishing no less than five novels of exceptional literary merit. Indeed his rise as a leading light in this genre has been nothing short of meteoric. Remarkably, the internationally celebrated novelist has pointed out that he discovered the novel by pure chance. “I surprised myself because I didn’t know that I could write sustained prose,” he said. Son of anti-apartheid firebrand AP Mda, he started as a playwright and academic in the 70s, teaching literature at the National University of Lesotho. His classic play We Shall Sing For The Fatherland was published in 1977. Mda is also a talented painter and beekeeper.

Sam Nhlengethwa
Jazz Painter

Exploration and appropriation are two of the primary vehicles of contemporary expression in the visual arts. Sam Nhlengethwa’s work as the country’s pioneering collagist is a classic case in point. The 1994 Standard Bank Young Artist Award recipient’s appropriation of jazz images in the collage medium to celebrate the story and personalities behind this revered genre has made him a household name in the art world. Like the music of his jazz idols, Nhlengethwa’s appropriation device is
primarily improvisatory. Urbane and well-travelled, this full-time artist from Springs has exhibited extensively both at home and abroad. Some of his treasured jazz pieces include Kippies, I Remember Wes Montgomery and Dedicated To Charles Mingus. Initially a self-taught artist, he was inspired by sculptor Lucas Sithole to dedicate his life to art. Another inspiration, Judas Mahlangu, later introduced him to the famous Rorke’s Drift Art School in Natal, where he studied from 1977 to 1978. He also took lessons with the Johannesburg Art Foundation and later worked at the SABC as a set designer and graphic artist while teaching art at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown.

Mbongeni Ngema
Musician And Stage Virtuoso

Mbongeni Ngema took the scriptwriting and directing baton from mentor and father of township theatre, Gibson Kente, employed it to scout and nurture new talent and then launched his protégés onto international stages through his most famous play, Sarafina!. A masterpiece of protest theatre, Sarafina! premiered at the Market Theatre to critical media acclaim before it took Broadway by storm and eventually became an award-winning box-office blockbuster starring Miriam Makeba, Leleti Khumalo and Hollywood legend Whoopi Goldberg. Ngema’s other celebrated plays, Asinamali and Woza Albert, also earned him top accolades, notably five Vita Awards and an Off-Broadway Obie Award. In post-apartheid South Africa, Ngema has discovered fresh themes to pen masterpieces that explore new perspectives to sustain his theatrical genius, as historical plays such as The Zulu and his recent The Lion Of The East attest. A talented composer and singer, Ngema has also established himself as one of the country’s most gifted musicians, producing music that, like his plays, mirrors and critiques his society. He co-ordinates his artistic pursuits through Committed Artists, a stage, film, TV and music company that he founded and chairs. His other international accolades include being inducted into the Manhattan Theatre Wall of Fame. He is listed at number 92 in the Great South Africans poll.

John Bonisile Kani
Crusading Film And Theatre Thespian

Long before environmental issues became fashionable, this sage of the stage was already championing green consciousness through the groundbreaking movie, Soweto Green (1995). And more than a decade before Mbongeni Ngema held American theatre lovers spellbound with his enchanting Sarafina! musical, the debonair John Kani and fellow actor Winston Ntshona had already captured the hearts of American audiences with their brand of protest theatre when they starred on Broadway in Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island. Both plays earned Kani and Ntshona the prestigious Tony Award. In the early 80s, Kani wowed international audiences again when he co-starred alongside the late Zakes Mokae in another Tony Award winner by Athol Fugard, Master Harold And The Boys. Through an autobiographical play like Nothing But The Truth and his executive roles in various cultural and corporate bodies, Kani continues to play a critical role in the development of local theatre. His big screen credits include The Native Who Caused All The Trouble, Sarafina!, and Saturday Night At The Palace. It’s thanks to his exceptional acting abilities and illustrious career that among his numerous accolades are the Naledi Lifetime Achievement Award, the Avanti Hall of Fame Award and the Order of Ikhamanga. He’s listed at number 51 in the book Great South Africans.

Trevor Noah
Mzansi’s Funniest Stand-Up Comedian

Trevor Noah is the prince of local comedy and a world-class performer with more than just the right qualities that include sharp wit, school-boyish charm and thought-provoking commentary. The fresh-faced award-winning comedian is also a natural actor who’s blessed with a rare gift to flawlessly impersonate his subjects with hilarious effect for his full-house shows. And when it comes to subjects, the Daywalker star has no holy cows. He milks them all – irrespective of colour, creed, age or social status; from the ordinary Joe Soap to the world’s most revered non-agenarian statesman, Nelson Mandela. A well-sought-after MC at business, social and corporate events, Trevor Noah’s international credentials include being the only local performer to breeze through the auditions of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and being chosen to represent South Africa as the only local act at the Jozi International Comedy Festival.

Mfundi Vundla
Filmmaker And Generations Creator

Mfundi Vundla’s pioneering contribution to television entertainment has been nothing short of phenomenal. As a creator of drama series and soap operas on the small screen, Vundla has revolutionised TV entertainment with such groundbreaking works as Backstage, Jozi-H and Generations. The latter, of course, is one of the country’s longest-running soap operas and a fulfilment of Vundla’s cherished dream, to create a popular soapie whose storyline would reflect the aspirations of African people while exposing new talent. Vundla was also the author of Soweto Green (1995) and producer of the Hollywood movie based on the eponymous novel by Antjie Krog, Country Of My Skull. He went into exile in 1970 and cut his teeth in television script writing in California where he contributed on well-known TV dramas like the detective series NYPD Blue and Hill Street Blues. He is currently a librettist for a local opera on the life of anti-apartheid martyr, Chris Hani, titled Five:20.

Aubrey Sekhabi
The Quentin Tarantino Of The Townships

The 1998 Standard Bank Young Artist Award and FNB Vita Award winner and artistic director of the State Theatre emerged in the early 90s as a creative theatrical voice and a prolific playwright of township dramas. As a drama student, Sekhabi’s acting talents were evident in classic township plays such as Matsemela Manaka’s Egoli. But his abilities as a scriptwriter and director meant that his acting would eventually take a back stage. After graduating with an honours degree in drama from Wits, he was employed as artistic director at Mmabana Arts Centre in the North West, where he served from 1994 to 2001. Sekhabi’s cutting-edge, contemporary theatre explores current concerns such as domestic violence – a theme he handled with frightening realism in his acclaimed play On My Birthday. Following the success of his 1998 work Silent Voice, Sekhabi was invited to the United States, where he conducted theatre workshops at the Lincoln Centre Theatre in New York. Recently he shifted his focus to historical plays dealing with the lives and times of South African freedom fighters. Kalushi –The Story of Solomon Mahlangu, Mantolo and Rivonia Trial – Retelling The Story immediately spring to mind.

Top 10 Business Leaders And Corporate Executives

Kuseni Dlamini
Mining Mogul

Joining one of the world’s largest and most respected mining firms, De Beers, in 1996, Kuseni Dlamini started out as the head of public affairs at the company. After holding a number of senior management positions at De Beers operations in South Africa and the United Kingdom, he then moved to AngloGold Ashanti in 2003. Recently profiled in the journal of the Wits Business School for his outstanding business sense and leadership, Dlamini is now the managing director and CEO at Old Mutual. He is a well-known figure in the mining industry, and within the last five years he has held two key positions within it. He served as the executive chairman of the Richards Bay coal terminal from 2005 and then stepped into the position of head of Anglo American South Africa. In 2008 he was named as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and appeared in the Mail & Guardian top 200 young people to take to lunch supplement while MiningX selected him as one of the top 100 most influential people in South African mining. He is a well educated and sound leader that will most certainly make many more business leadership lists.

Siza Mzimela
Woman Of The Skies

Previously the CEO of South African Express Airways, Siza Mzimela is now the first female CEO of South African Airways. Mzimela worked in the banking and petroleum sectors before moving to SAA in 1996. There she was a research analyst but was promoted to executive vice-president of the airline’s global passenger services in 2001. Moving up the ranks at a rapid rate, she was then placed in charge of global sales and the airline’s Voyager programme. In 2003 Mzimela got the top job at South African Express Airways, and in the last five years she has managed to introduce new routes and start a new airline in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. With 14 years of experience in the airline industry, Mzimela’s promotion to SAA CEO was a natural step, according to SAA board chairperson Cheryl Carolus. All indications are that this business dynamo is busy turning the troubled SAA brand around.

Ntombifuthi Mtoba
Figure Head

Named one of South Africa’s 50 most influential women in the private and public sector by the International Women’s Forum in 2006, Ntombifuthi Mtoba is one of four vice-presidents of Business Unity South Africa and chairperson of Deloitte Southern Africa. Upon her appointment to Deloitte in 1988, she climbed the corporate ladder and subsequently became the first black woman to be appointed as a partner of one of the big four accounting firms in South Africa and also became the first black woman appointed to the Deloitte board. In the last five years her she has received several awards, including Business Woman of the Year and the international Woman of the Year Award. This all stems from the fact that she’s also a member of the board of directors of the Public Investment Corporation’s investment committee. She’s a member of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development’s business group and the United Nations’ global compact board. Mtoba is leading a global powerhouse, and the next five years should be paved with rewards and success for her.

Ernest Kekana
The Winged One

Ernest Kekana became an entry-level pilot at the tender age of 20. Trained to fly Boeing passenger planes, Kekana founded K5 Aviation in 2004 with leases for nine airplanes and two helicopters. The company offers charter services for passenger travel and freight requirements with a domestic license for all category aircraft and helicopters. K5 Aviation stands as an oddity within the South African aviation industry as it’s one of the very few 100% black-owned and managed firms. The company has flourished under Kekana’s vigorous determination to keep it a success. He’s aware that there’s a distinct lack of black pilots within the industry, and this has led him to empower and educate the youth about the opportunities in aviation. Through sheer perseverance he has succeeded in becoming one of South Africa’s most dynamic young business men. A nominee in the 2009 Johnny Walker Celebrating Strides Award in the entrepreneurship category highlights the recognition he is now receiving from nonindustry players and indicates his drive as a true business leader.

Philisiwe Buthelezi
All For Empowerment

After returning to South Africa in 1992, Buthelezi joined the supervision arm of the South African Reserve Bank where she was responsible for risk management control, and then, in the following year, she joined the treasury division of Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank. She was then employed by the Department of Trade and Industry to promote European investment in South Africa. In 2002 she became the department’s chief director of the black economic empowerment. She was subsequently appointed as the CEO of the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), to which she brought a diverse knowledge of banking, capital markets and international investments in South Africa. Her experience includes both private- and public-sector activities and provides the NEF with an unparalleled understanding of the environment in which it operates. Buthelezi is the chairperson of Group Five and is on the boards of Mvelaphanda and Afripalm. The next five years look bright for the NEF, and with Buthelezi at the helm, the only way is forward.

Happy Ntshingila
King Of Communications

Ntshingila is currently the chief marketing and communication officer at Absa Bank, the largest retail bank in South Africa. He’s had a colourful career that started in 1991 when his entrepreneurial flair and drive to succeed brought about one of his most-wellknown and distinctive achievements – the co-founding and establishment of the first black-owned advertising agency in the country, HerdBuoys. By 2005, HerdBuoys McCann Erickson had a turnaround of R400m and was ranked among the Top 10 in the industry. His greatest achievements with HerdBuoys include changing the corporate colours of SAA and designing the ballot paper for the historic 1994 elections. He has written a book entitled Black Jerusalem, and despite his hectic career Ntshingila is a family man, an avid golfer and running enthusiast who recently qualified for the Comrades Marathon.

Robert Gumede
It Master

One of South Africa’s most famous success stories, Gumede went from being a caddie and a petrol attendant to becoming a billionaire and business leader of one the county’s most successful IT firms. After studying law, Gumede worked as a clerk and prosecutor before joining LTA (now known as Grinaker LTA) in 1992. In the mid-1990s he registered several Gijima companies, but his first major deal only came in 1997, when a joint venture he had with Phambili IT was awarded a multimillion-rand tender by the police, Department of Justice and the Department of Correctional Services to develop electronic case-docket systems. Following on that success, in 1999 a Gijima consortium was awarded the Home Affairs national identification system contract to develop an electronic identification system, and a couple of years later the company won a tender to produce phone cards for Telkom. Gijima skyrocketed, and Gumede became one of the top leaders within the IT industry in the country. He has also invested in the tourism industry, energy sector and is the coowner of the Gauteng Lions rugby team. He’s a leader in his sector and admired by budding entrepreneurs.

Max Maisela
Financial Services For All

For inspirational business leadership in an individual, you need look no further than Max Maisela. His impressive leadership experience traverses many industries. He served as the deputy managing director of Alexander Forbes, the chairman and CEO of the South African Post Office and Post Bank and the chairperson of the UNISA National Board of Trustees. He currently holds several influential positions that include a specialist directorship at VinPro and directorships at T-Systems South Africa, Monash University and World Wide Investment Holdings. He is the chairperson, founder and CEO of his own financial services company, NBC Holdings. You’d think that with all that responsibility he would have very little time left to do anything other than work, but Maisela’s passion for youth development has seen him spending his energies and effort supporting initiatives aimed at achieving this vision. Through his involvement with the Student Sponsorship Programme and chairpersonship of the SA BookSmart Foundation Project, he aims to ensure that investment in young people will generate productive future leaders in our country. In 2010, Maisela was the Johnnie Walker Celebrating Strides Business category winner and a finalist in the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Award in the Master category.

Richard Maponya
Father Of Black Retails

Richard Maponya developed and grew his businesses under the harsh restrictions of apartheid rule. In the 50s, he took a job as a stock taker at a clothing manufacturing company. He then sold ruined clothing and off-cuts in Soweto and with the money he made he attempted to open a clothing store in Soweto. When the apartheid government refused to grant him a license, he opened a dairy business instead. But he continued to grow his businesses, and by the early 70s, his retail empire had grown to include several general stores, car dealerships and filling stations. In September 2007 Nelson Mandela opened the Maponya Mall in Soweto, which is by far one of the largest shopping centres in the country and one of only a few in a black township. It holds more than 200 stores and a cinema complex. Maponya has led the way in the retail sector for the best part of half a century – a business leader and critical player in the South African economy.