|
|
History | |||||||||||
| Capitalised with a R100,000 grant, Thebe formally opened for
business in July 1992. Thebe’s sole shareholder was the Batho Batho Trust. The original Board of Trustees included Nelson Mandela (Chairman), Walter Sisulu, Beyers Naudé and Siddik Ahmed. Enos Mabuza was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of Thebe in 1992. Having left the employ of the African National Congress in June 1992, Vusi Khanyile became the founding CEO. Supported by a team that shared the vision of making economic self-sufficiency a reality for the majority of South Africans, Vusi Khanyile was integral to the efforts that led to the establishment of Thebe. The support of Thomas Nkobi and Walter Sisulu proved invaluable to him at that time. To lift as we rise In his address to the first board meeting of Thebe, Thomas Nkobi shared his hope that realising the Thebe vision would make it possible for more black people to enter mainstream business, and that Thebe would ultimately become a dynamo for development, transformation and empowerment. In 1992, Thebe’s first public communication stated that, “The African Dream of economic empowerment is today becoming a reality and the newly formed Thebe Investment Corporation will drive this process. Thebe is founded upon social commitment. It plans to act as a catalyst to redress the economic imbalances that exist in South African society through its function as a sound business entity.” |
Thebe has evolved with a vision: to make economic selfsufficiency
a reality. The investment management company
is fully committed to a democratic and non-racial society, yet
recognises that the African people have been economically disadvantaged in the past and that this issue must be constructively addressed. Enos Mabuza, founding Non-Executive Chairman of Thebe, said, “It is our duty to be a business role-model and pioneer new routes… to stimulate broader business cooperation between people from disadvantaged communities and those who have the expertise and resources.” In Thebe’s founding statement, Vusi Khanyile said, “Thebe’s business is to do business successfully and in so doing, provide a structured framework to ‘lift as we rise’, and to promote black economic performance to a level that is internationally competitive.” Creating sustainable value for all can only be achieved through the balancing of commercial and transformational imperatives. This is an ongoing and complex challenge, and one that Thebe will not shrink from. The struggle continues... Download Chronology of the Thebe story |
