‘Chart your own path to success’

15 April 2019 | Story Kim Cloete. Photos Je’nine May. Read time 8 min.
VC Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng and Prof Loretta Feris, DVC for transformation (right), do “jazz hands”, the British Sign Language expression of clapping, to honour Qobo Ningiza, South Africa’s first deaf law graduate.

University of Cape Town (UCT) alumnus and acclaimed African entrepreneur Rapelang Rabana, delivering the guest address at a jubilant and inspiring Faculty of Humanities graduation ceremony in the Sarah Baartman Hall on Friday, 12 April, urged the graduands to tap into their internal wisdom and chart their own, unique path to success.

She sketched her journey from curious schoolgirl to highly successful technology entrepreneur, describing how her rise to the big time happened soon after she graduated from UCT with a business science degree in 2005. Since then, she has notched up a string of accolades.

“All I have ever tried to do was to follow the rhythm of my own soul – and I had no idea it would take me so far. I believe that greater self-awareness has been quintessential to everything that I have been able to achieve.”

Rabana, together with two of her UCT classmates, launched Yeigo, one of the first companies in the world to offer free mobile phone services via Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

She and her fellow entrepreneurs developed the world-class technology sitting around a dining-room table in a small flat.

“We taught ourselves everything we needed to know about how to build the software and how to run a business online. We literally googled our way to success.”

Chart your own path to success
Alumnus and acclaimed African entrepreneur Rapelang Rabana delivers the guest address, during which she urged graduands to tap into their internal wisdom and chart their own, unique path to success.

It set Rabana and her friends on what she describes as “an amazing journey”.

“By the time we launched Yeigo in February 2007, there were just three companies globally that launched with similar technologies – one in Israel and one in the UK, with far more funding.

“Such is the levelling and inclusive power of the internet that a group of bright-eyed students could achieve this with such limited resources.”

 

“Personal mastery goes beyond competence and skills. It means approaching one’s life as a creative work.”

Deliberate and intentional choices

A local operator bought Yeigo in 2009. Buoyed by the success, Rabana then launched Rekindle Learning, a company in the tech space which aims to bring the benefits of technology to learning and education.

She shared the lessons she had learnt and encouraged the graduands to make deliberate and intentional choices about their careers, instead of merely being caught up in the humdrum of life and “being on autopilot waiting for your real life to start happening”.

“Personal mastery goes beyond competence and skills. It means approaching one’s life as a creative work … living life from a creative as opposed to a reactive point of view.”

The dynamic entrepreneur, who has been featured on the cover of Forbes Africa magazine as a symbol of the next generation of African entrepreneurs, spoke to the value of spending time on self-reflection.

Chart your own path to success
LLB graduate Nigel Patel, whose degree is a stepping stone in their life work of fighting transphobia and discrimination against queer people.

She said society, particularly in this era of social media, focuses on “looking out there” for success. Yet, it is far more important to reflect honestly on what you want in life.

“It’s about tapping into your internal wisdom. It’s about the awareness to see and follow your curiosities. The things that other people may think are mundane or irrelevant … those are the things that may well be a source of value for your life.”

 

“Trailblazers hold hands with fear because they are willing to risk venturing into the unknown rather than staying with the predictable.”

Emboldened in childhood

Rabana described how the seed of entrepreneurship was planted early in her life. Aged about 11, she realised, while gazing out of a classroom window during a geography class, that she didn’t want to be boxed in by systems and structure. The moment stayed with her throughout her school and university years.

“Soon after university I gave up lucrative job opportunities and the guaranteed safety I was offered, and convinced my parents to house and feed me for a few years.”

She used those years to plunge into her entrepreneurial pursuits.

She said she had been emboldened by her parents, who grew up in abject poverty but became the first to graduate in their respective families.

“As a child I watched them excel in their professional careers as an architect and an electrical engineer.”

Some of the special moments from the Friday evening graduation reflected a ceremony buoyed up by a celebratory atmosphere of pride among the students and their families and friends.

The way in which they handled both success and adversity had a lasting effect on their daughter.

“They ran so many businesses and projects in their commitment to create the life they wanted for themselves and their children and then in my early teens I watched them lose everything they had built.

“That could have been the end, but lo and behold, I saw them get up and do it all over again. By the time I was finishing university, I had seen my parents start with nothing and create everything twice over.”

For Rabana, it was a valuable lesson.

“Today I want to be for you what my parents were for me … to show that hard work and excellence in your unique contribution over a sustained period of time creates value that yields success.”

Venture into the unknown

The graduation ceremony, one of five for the Humanities faculty, was buoyed up by a celebratory atmosphere of pride among the graduands and their families and friends.

In her address, UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng encouraged the students to be trailblazers.

“Trailblazers hold hands with fear because they are willing to risk venturing into the unknown rather than staying with the predictable,” she said.

A trailblazer who caught her eye during the ceremony was Qobo Ningiza, South Africa’s first deaf law graduate. Born and raised in the Eastern Cape, he is the fifth of six children and the only person in the family with a hearing disability.

Chart your own path to success
This graduate smiles for the camera as family members line up to capture the moment.

“He is motivated by a desire to seek equality, and today his example is in itself a victory for social justice, as he graduates with an LLB,” said Phakeng.

She thanked the parents, families and friends at the gathering for supporting the young people under their care.

“Your bundle of joy that finished high school not so long ago is now a UCT graduate,” she said to rousing applause.

The students stood up to honour their families and caregivers, lecturers and professors, as well as the university’s professional, administrative support and service (PASS) staff who supported them throughout their years on campus.

The graduation ceremony also featured a spirited performance by UCT opera student Nombulelo Yende, who won first prize and the audience award at the 2018 International Competition of Belcanto Vincenzo Bellini in France.


Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Please view the republishing articles page for more information.



Graduation April 2019


The University of Cape Town honoured over 5 000 students during 14 graduation ceremonies that took place from Wednesday, 10 April until Thursday, 18 April 2019. During the 14 ceremonies – attended by about 14 000 people – 70 doctoral degrees and 383 master’s degrees were conferred. An honorary doctorate in engineering was be awarded to Professor David Roger Jones Owen on Saturday, 13 April 2019. Among the speakers at the various ceremonies were Judy Sikuza, deputy executive director of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation; Nkazi Sokhulu, co-founder and CEO of Yalu Financial Services; Sam Paddock, co-founder of GetSmarter and GetWine; UCT engineering alumnus Mavo Solomon; and Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.


 

PHOTO ESSAYS

Videos
 

Our stories: inspirational graduates


Fourth UCT degree for EMS director Medeé Rall, director of the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies at UCT, collects her fourth degree from the institution today – her PhD in education. 12 Apr 2019
‘Don’t allow your circumstances to define you’ Psychology graduand Minkateko Ndlovu (21) says she has emerged successful from three “tough” years at university because she decided not to allow her challenges to define her. 10 Apr 2019
‘I am somebody because of UCT’ With help from colleagues and classmates, graduand Mteteleli Jobela has beaten the odds and will be capped in the Sarah Baartman Hall tomorrow. 10 Apr 2019
Graduation part of queer activist’s mission Nigel Patel’s graduation is a stepping stone on the way to fulfilling their life’s mission to effect the decriminalisation of queerness. 09 Apr 2019
Master’s oceanography thesis ‘all at sea’ The inhospitable Southern Ocean is not a place from which any master’s graduand – not even an oceanographer – would choose to relay final changes to their thesis. 09 Apr 2019
‘This is my mother’s graduation’ While it’s his name on the degree, Ntebogang Segone says his 17 April graduation belongs to his mother. 08 Apr 2019
Women top UCT’s civil engineering honours class UCT women are making significant strides in civil engineering, where they account for six of the department’s 11 first-class honours students graduating this month. 08 Apr 2019
Making his ‘first lady’s’ dream come true When Sanele Mangena graduates with his BCom in economics and finance from UCT, he will make his mother’s dream come true. 05 Apr 2019
New script for shark survivor and drama graduand When a great white shark attacked Caleb Swanepoel in June 2015, he thought he would die. But a new script was being written for the April graduand. 05 Apr 2019
SA’s first deaf law graduate Qobo Ningiza refused to be put off by multiple rejections, and next week he will become South Africa’s first deaf law graduate. 04 Apr 2019
‘Imposter’ graduates with full suite of distinctions Severely burnt in a gas explosion 15 years ago, 24-year-old Aniek Nieuwenhuis has found new meaning in her life, defying the odds stacked against her. 04 Apr 2019
TOP