Waterless Mining Technology Earns Entrepreneur SA’s Innovator of the Year® Award

South Africa faces a looming 17% water deficit by 2030, putting critical industries like mining, which is responsible for 3% of national water use, under immense pressure. In this high-stakes environment, entrepreneur Tebogo Kale is proving that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand. Kale developed the Optima Process, a patented, waterless technology for […]

Geneticist Makes Life-Saving Testing Accessible to Millions of South Africans

In a country where an estimated 90% of genetic testing needs go unmet, millions of South Africans lack vital information that could save their lives. Professor Monique Zaahl refused to accept this reality. Determined to bridge the gap, she founded GENEdiagnostics in 2010. After eight years of persistent effort, the company became fully operational. Since […]

Engineer Turns Local Manufacturing Firm into Global Exporter Amid Sector Decline

South Africa’s manufacturing sector, a key economic pillar contributing 13% to GDP, is currently navigating significant headwinds, including a 1.5% year-on-year decline. It is in this challenging environment that engineer Hamilton Stephenson has built a globally competitive firm from the ground up. When he took over the business in 2016, essentially buying back the patents […]

From Funeral Services to Fashion: South Africa’s Most Innovative Entrepreneurs of 2025

Five SMEs are transforming South Africa’s economy through innovation, job creation, and unconventional leadership In a year marked by economic uncertainty, with growth projected between 0.9% and 1.6%, inflation rising to 3.5%, and unemployment stubbornly high at 33.2%, South Africa’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are proving to be a beacon of resilience, innovation, and […]

From Car Boot to Cultural Icon: Streetwear Founder Wins Job Creator Award

South Africa faces a  62.2% youth unemployment rate, making job creation a critical challenge. Amid this landscape, entrepreneurs like Thatiso Dube are creating pathways to meaningful employment. Dube’s journey is the ultimate comeback story. In 2008, he was designing and selling T-shirts to his friends at school. They proved so popular that he started selling […]

Funeral Industry Innovator Named SA’s Entrepreneur of the Year®

Funeral Industry Innovator Named SA’s Entrepreneur of the Year® South Africa’s funeral industry is valued at over R10 billion yet remains one of the country’s least digitised sectors. In this landscape, Aphiwe Khambule is proving that even the most established industries can be transformed from within. Before joining her family business, 21st Century Funerals, Khambule […]

2024 EOY Winner – Sheldon Tatchell

Sheldon Tatchell – Legends Barber Entrepreneur of the Year® The story of The Legends Barbershop is, in itself, the stuff of legends. Sheldon Tatchell, the man behind the barbering empire, started cutting hair outside his cousin’s internet café in Eldorado Park, Gauteng, armed with a chair, a pair of clippers and a boombox, and looking […]

2024 EOY Winner – Nyangani Doctor Tshabalala

Nyangani Doctor Tshabalala – IFASCO Academy Impact Business Entrepreneur of the Year® The Institute for Applied Sciences and Commerce, better known as IFASCO Academy, was founded in 2017 on the campus of the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth by Nyangani Doctor Tshabalala to give matriculants from previously disadvantaged backgrounds a second chance at a […]

2024 EOY Winner – James Barrington Brown

James Barrington Brown – NewSpace Systems Innovator of the Year James Barrington-Brown is the founder of the multinational spacecraft subsystems and component manufacturer, NewSpace Systems. An electronics engineering graduate, James brings more than 30 years of experience in the commercial satellite industry to bear on the company he founded in 2013. Not many people would […]

2024 EOY Winner – Nqobile Valencia Mkhabela

Nqobile Valencia Mkhabela – Siyanqoba Ngamandla Job Creator of the Year  Valentia Mkhabela founded Siyanqoba Ngamandla in 2013 with the goal to make a positive impact in the South African mining industry. That impact had modest beginnings, as Siyanqoba originally provided only cleaning services, but these days it is a powerhouse with three subsidiaries that […]