In the bustling world of business, there is one particular name that is prominent in business circles and has help shape the lives of Africans through various initiatives, and that is the name of Mr Xolani Qubeka.
Hailing all the way from Soweto, Gauteng, Qubeka find pride in the fact that he went to the school of hard knocks!
Mr Qubeka is a self-taught businessman who managed to find success through the hardships of entrepreneurship without any formal business education.
He is the founding member of the Black Business Council as well as the founder and former CEO of the Small Business Development Institute.
We had a sit down at the vibrant Jacksons Eatery in Kyalami for an interesting talk on politics, business, and governance.
“Knowledge is power” said Qubeka, while ordering a glass of carrot juice. “ I didn’t go to school to study business but I managed to equip myself with the knowledge I needed to allow me to pursue my business goals”.
His business journey started informally while he was still in school. In the lens of the 2024 business atmosphere, you could say Qubeka started his first business as a personal concierge, although back in the day, that wasn’t a popular term for a young boy still growing up in the dusty, minority groups of Soweto.
“I used to sell newspapers and collect dry cleaning in the community”. he says with a reminiscent smile.
He started his first official business in 1978 where he went on to sell packaged meat and vegetables to the communities in and around Soweto.
The many years of experience in business were a build up to the creation of the Black Business Council whose main objective was to create meaningful and inclusive economic growth for the black community. The goal has always been to empower black people. Empowering black people, does not mean that we do not like or want white people, it simply means that we want equality and inclusion for our people and that we build in the growth potential that our people have when they come together as one.
He beams as he speaks about how our black communities have the power to make a difference in their own lives, if they just come together with a shard vision. I cannot reveal much, but there is a project that working on that will change the lives of black South Africans for the better. It is something that will allow our women to have economic freedom through their stokvels, allow our young men and women develop their ideas into successful business, break the cycle of dependence as well as create jobs for our people” says Qubeka.
“It’s all about the people”, he says. In everything Qubeka does, he wants to ensure that the black community has a way that it will benefit and sustain itself long after he is gone. After all these years in business, his stance is clear, that the aim of most businesses needs to be the development and growth of its market share through local black development.
“Businesses need to be inclusive in order to properly realise radical economic transformation” he says with positivity in his tone. He continues to say that there needs to be an overall drive to redesign business models in order to localise the market and ownership. South Africa is alive with possibilities and there are many people that are doing amazing things that have the potential to bring about growth in our country.
Qubeka is currently in the process of writing is autobiography which will be an in-depth look into his life as entrepreneur, the lessons he has learned and wisdom he is open to sharing with fellow South Africans who have a dream of making a change in their communities and beyond.
