Masonwabe Fuma MASONWABE FUMA IS A MARKETER, MULTI AWARD WINNING BUSINESSMAN, SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPER, SPEAKER, ACTIVIST AND LEADER, BUT IT IS HIS PASSION FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S YOUTH AND CONFRONTING SOCIAL IMBALANCES THAT DRIVES HIM.
Masonwabe Fuma believes it’s time to rethink leadership in South Africa.
Masonwabe Fuma has many titles but it’s his dedication to motivating students and alumni to reach for their dreams that drives him. His message: the only limitations are in our minds and it’s possible to achieve much more than what we’ve been taught to believe. “I’m passionate about putting real issues on the national agenda. I’m also very passionate about young people in the most underprivileged of areas in South Africa who walk more than 10km every morning to get to school on an empty stomach and another 10km in the afternoon to get home. We are 28 years into our democracy. This calls for intervention. I want to help create a world and economy that works for the majority of people,” he says. As managing director of
Africans in the Business and Entrepreneurship category. Last year he was recognised as one of the 2021 Sunday World Top 100 Unsung Heroes in the Business and Entrepreneurship category. Masonwabe’s recipe for success has been to always stay true to himself by remembering who he is and where he came from. He believes in constant studying and is a stickler for self-discipline. Born in Lady Frere near Komani (formerly Queenstown), Masonwabe completed his schooling in the Eastern Cape before relocating to Johannesburg to study Marketing at UJ. Losing his father in July 2012, during his first year, was a significant turning point. “That taught me one of the greatest lessons in life. Our parents or caretakers won’t be around forever. One has to be independent and stand on one’s own two feet,” he says. His entrepreneurial spirit awakened during his third year in 2017 when he was president of Enactus, which is dedicated to developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators. His group won the Enactus National Championship and went on to represent South Africa at the Enactus World Cup in Canada, reaching the semi-finals. Masonwabe’s time at UJ was filled with important learning experiences, within and outside the classroom. In class, it was
progressive debates around marketing and current issues. He was also a staunch activist, deeply involved in community development and part of the #FeesMustFall movement. As a student activist, he travelled to Finland, Indonesia, Canada and Mauritius. “When I graduated I had about two years of working experience with skills and experience equivalent to someone working in the labour market. I had networked and formed relationships, during my university years, with future professionals and senior managers in government and the private sector,” he recalls. But his calling remains sustainable development. He uses the Asset Based Community Development (ABC) method.
Sakhulutsha eAfrika, a centre for youth development, local
enterprise, advisory and research in the Eastern Cape, he is spreading the word at grassroots. “It is imperative for people to have an entrepreneurial mindset, one that sees opportunities when others see problems. An entrepreneurial mindset is not always about business but also solves personal and individual problems,” he explains. Over the years Masonwabe has earned numerous awards, including the 2022 Africa Honorary Award in Community Development at the Africa Top 40 Under Forty Awards Ceremony in Ghana and the 2021 Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young and Eminent South
“It says everyone has gifts, everyone has something to
contribute and everyone cares about something. That passion is his or her motivation to act,” he says. He feels frustrated with the current government leadership, describing it as uninspired, lacking ideas and self-serving. Pointing to issues, such as youth unemployment, that is regularly highlighted in Stats SA reports, he says: “I think we tend to forget that, behind every number, is a real life, a human being, who deserves a better standard of living. Leadership should always be about putting people in better
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