Mosa
Dressed in a shirt of his favorite colour, white, blue jeans and a fougere fragranced cologne, Mosa Moamogoe slowly got out of his car that matched the colour of his shirt.
This was my first physical interaction with him after having spoken to him sparingly over the phone. His face covered in a friendly smile and his speech so gentle, you wouldn’t believe that this 25 year old is the brains behind the travel agency that was recently made a member of the Sandton Tourism Association, AfriTravel International. Being the gentleman he is, he offered to come to me for our scheduled interview, rather than me having to travel all the way to him.
We shook hands and proceeded to the benches just next to the beautiful pond situated in West Campus, University of the Witwatersrand. With just the right amount of wind and silence, we were ready to start the interview.
As expected, I asked him to tell me about himself.
“I did my matric in Mabeskraal. After matric, at the age of 17, I came to Johannesburg to look for a job. I was staying with my grandmother where she worked as a domestic worker. I did a call centre course which got me a job in the insurance industry, selling funeral policies,” he started.
Mingling with other successful entrepreneurs.
This was a very sad time in his life. He would wake up every morning to get a taxi to work, while other post-matriculants would be going to varsity.
He continued working in the call centre until one December he decided that he can’t do it anymore and decided to move back to Rustenburg. In January of the next year he found a job as a marketing officer at a lodge.
“I did well there. I think I was 21 at that time. I was promoted to manager in just a matter of months. That’s when I fell in love with the tourism industry.”
He started a sales and marketing consulting company called ‘Sales on Call’ which focused on sales and marketing for small tourism companies. “I eventually started another one, Travel North West, which did well and even won several awards.”
The successful business man.
Unfortunately, he wasted it all and eventually lost it all. He went into a heavy depression at the age of 23, but eventually got out of it.
I decided to take a walk with him and show him around campus. We had a chat and I got to know more about him. From what I gathered, he is soft at heart and prefers quality over quantity. He likes expensive classy cars and has a very sweet tooth. He is a regular South African guy whose favorite meal is ‘Pap and steak’ and his other favorites include ‘mogodu le malana’ and the refreshing taste of oranges.
He even shared his most embarrassing moment with me – when he was in middle school and an older guy, who thought he was dating his girlfriend, came and beat him up only to find that Mosa was too shy to even approach the girl.
The young, fresh and crazy Mosa.
“The one word that describes me is ‘Dreamer’- I never stop dreaming.” He was recently selected by Investec as one of the most promising South African entrepreneurs and got the lifetime opportunity of traveling to Israel. He learnt so much about business and realized how much South Africa lacks in terms of supporting young entrepreneurs.
“After coming back from there, I decided that I’m going to play the role of helping young entrepreneurs. They need very crucial information that is not available to them- they need to be exposed to certain things. I would like to start incubators for young business people to help them start and maintain their businesses.”
The vibrant Mosa Moamogoe in Israel this past month. He selected by Investec as one of the most promising young entrepreneurs in South Africa.
Besides AfriTravel International, Mosa has a company called Bojanala Development Corp that does free seminars around the North West province which is helping him satisfy his passion for youth development.
This father of one would like to be remembered for being a life-changer who inspired others through his endless dreams that he implements.
To learn more about his business, AfriTravel, visit http://www.afritravelintl.com.
Enjoy the evening,
Ramadimetja Rami Makgeru
Comments