The woman who watched Ramaphosa’s billions – and now leads one of South Africa’s most valuable companies
Naspers South Africa chief executive officer Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa has cemented herself as one of South Africa’s most successful businesspeople.
Mahanyele-Dabengwa’s aim of driving economic development and empowering African businesses earned her recognition as one of Africa’s most powerful women in business by Forbes—but that title did not come easily.
Mahanyele-Dabengwa was born in 1971 in Meadowlands, Soweto. Because her parents moved around a lot, she grew up in Claremont, Durban, Maseru, Lesotho, and Dobsonville, Soweto.
She attended primary school in Maseru, and when her family returned to Johannesburg, she completed her schooling at McAuley House Convent in Milpark.
“When I arrived at McAuley House, I barely knew how to speak English, and my school friends, whom I had to fit in with, lived in a world that was really foreign to me,” Mahanyele-Dabengwa recalled in an interview with Women’s Report.
“My school friends used to invite me to birthday parties at venues that didn’t accept black people back then, so arrangements had to be made for me to be there [and] every day when I went home to Soweto, my reality was very clear to me, that my life was very different to that of my school friends,” she added.
In a 2013 interview with Moneyweb, Mahanyele-Dabengwa spoke of her parents’ commitment to her and her sister having the best education possible and how inspired she was by her parents’ story.
“I saw what education did for my parents. My dad studied when he was much older… I watched him do his BA in economics, his Master’s and, finally, his doctorate. Seeing my parents’ activity birthed in me many thoughts of my capabilities — the capability to achieve,” she said.
At 17, while still in matric, Mahanyele-Dabengwa faced what she describes as one of her biggest challenges – the passing of her mother. She said that taught her not to waste time or take it for granted.
Shortly thereafter, she started her university life at Douglass College at Rutgers University in the United States. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Economics in 1993 and, in 1996, earned an MBA from De Montfort University.
“Living by myself in a country I’d never been to was a challenge, but I worked very hard and, having watched my parents, I never focused on staying in challenges, I always looked for opportunities,” said Mahanyele-Dabengwa.
She began her career at international investment banking firm Fieldstone Private Capital Group in New York, in 1993 and worked her way up to being Vice President (1997 to 2003).
She then transferred to the firm’s South Africa office and became Head of Project Finance South Africa at the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
In 2004, Mahanyele-Dabengwa then joined Shanduka Energy as managing director.
In 2007, the World Economic Forum selected her as one of its global young leaders, and in 2008, The Wall Street Journal named her “one of the top 50 women in the world to watch.”
Ramaphosa’s billions and the move to Naspers
Mahanyele-Dabengwa ultimately ascended to become chief executive officer (CEO) of the Shanduka Group, an investment holding company founded and chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The group was founded in 2001 by Ramaphosa—then sitting outside of politics and firmly in his business era.
The company invested in mineral resources, energy, real estate, banking, insurance, and telecoms. By 2014, Shanduka was reportedly worth more than R20 billion, and the Ramaphosa family’s Tshivhase Trust was its majority shareholder.
After holding the top position at Shanduka for over 11 years, Mahanyele-Dabengwa resigned from the company in 2015—the year Ramaphosa sold off his shareholding to the Phembani Group, and the two firms merged.
She then co-founded Sigma Capital, another investment holding company, serving as executive chairperson for several years.
In 2019, Mahanyele-Dabengwa made history by becoming the first Black and female CEO of Naspers South Africa, one of the largest multinational media and technology companies in the world and largest in South Africa (in rands terms).
Naspers was founded in 1915 (formerly De Nasionale Pers Beperkt) and became the most valuable South African company with a current market cap of nearly R654 billion (majority of which comes from its stake in Chinese technology firm Tencent, the biggest video game company in the world and owner of WeChat.)
Although it still has interests in media (it wholly owns Media24), it has transitioned to become a multinational technology company diversifying its assets through various investments.
In South Africa, it is most notably the owner of Takealot, South Africa’s biggest eCommerce player. It also owns among others Mr D Food, Superbalist, PayU AutoTrader and Property24.
In addition, she has served on several boards, including those of Vodacom, Gold Fields, the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation, and Comair.
Speaking to young entrepreneurs and business people, Mahanyele-Dabengwa said “the advice that I would share, that I certainly got from my parents, is that we are each placed in this world for a purpose.”
“So, despite what anyone might do or say, if you focus on achieving the purpose that is in your heart, you can achieve almost anything.”
“Focus as much as you can on skilling yourself,” whether it is trying to get the best poossible marks at school, or learn as many skills as possible in a job, your success is going to be determined by what you put in, she added.
“But most of all, just live your purpose – that is the goal for all of us. I think we all come across challenges in different forms in our lives, but the issue is to be able to still continue to become the person you were brought into this world to be, despite the challenges.”
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