{"id":837425,"date":"2025-09-17T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=837425"},"modified":"2025-09-17T16:58:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T14:58:55","slug":"the-south-african-who-went-from-being-a-security-guard-to-managing-over-r7-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/837425\/the-south-african-who-went-from-being-a-security-guard-to-managing-over-r7-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"The South African who went from being a security guard to managing over R7 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Zwelakhe Mnguni, co-founder and chief investment officer of Benguela Global Fund Managers, went from a job as a security guard to co-founding an asset management company that today oversees more than R7 billion in assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with Stephen Grootes at the Money Show<\/a>, Mnguni said he grew up in a Sebokeng squatter camp south of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, during the riots, my parents sent us to the Free State to attend school. That decision was significant in changing my fortune compared to the friends who remained behind,\u201d Mnguni explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a small farm school near Kroonstad, two teachers saw his potential and instilled in him confidence and a love for learning, particularly mathematics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight up to matric, I was always at the top of my class. The potential was there, but the money wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he took a liking to the stock market when he was about 17. His father, a truck driver, was a keen horse racing gambler who bought a newspaper daily to get the race results, which allowed Mnguni junior to read the business pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My father is a proper horse racing gambling addict. He still gambles on the horses to this day. He had heated debates with my mom because he often gambled his salary away,” Mnguni said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he didn\u2019t follow in his father\u2019s footsteps, because of the pain it caused his family. Without funds to study further, Mnguni decided to work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy first job was digging trenches to pipe water,\u201d he recalled. He used that money to pay for training at a security academy, and soon after, secured a job as a guard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have money to study, so I worked as a security guard for Alpha Ready Mix, Nampak and Sasol. I was encouraged by a family friend who suggested I become a security guard because the job offered predictable income,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard work paid off<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Zwelakhe Mnguni, co-founder and chief investment officer of Benguela Global Fund Managers<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cEvery month, I saved money. I started with R50 and eventually built up about R60,000.\u201d With the money he saved, he registered as a student at Rand Afrikaans University (Rau), known today as the University of Johannesburg, for a commerce degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entering as a 23-year-old former guard among younger classmates from more privileged backgrounds, Mnguni found his working life gave him an edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat experience was my advantage. I was focused. I knew what it had taken to get there.\u201d His academic performance quickly drew attention, and bursaries and scholarships soon covered his studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was very privileged to be supported by Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and professors who believed in me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An internship through the Inroads program opened the door to financial services. He began at Kaye\u2019s Asset Management before moving to Allan Gray, where he was mentored by the late Simon Marais and other industry leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a huge privilege to be developed by such people and to build skill,\u201d he said. But as his career progressed, he began questioning what his generation was doing for the next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He later joined Stanlib as an equity analyst focused on telecommunications and technology. He then managed Stanlib\u2019s global science and technology fund and co-managed the Stanlib Value fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The birth of Benguela Global Fund Managers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy idea for Benguela, to have a global equity fund, came from that experience,\u201d Mnguni said. He then spent three years as head of equities and portfolio manager at Mergence Investment Managers until August 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After gaining experience locally and internationally, he co-founded Benguela Global in 2013 with the vision of building a transformed, South African-owned global investment firm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForeign fund managers were coming into South Africa, managing assets from London or New York, paying taxes there, creating jobs there. We, as South Africans, were losing out. We wanted to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe funded the business using our savings, as no one was willing to lend us money. The business remains in the hands of staff and two families,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe finished repaying the startup loans from our lenders in 2022. This provides perspective about the hardships of being a startup business in the industry and in South Africa.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Mnguni is the chief investment officer (CIO) of Benguela, a company that employs around 20 people, runs graduate and internship programs, and has grown its assets under management to more than R7 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve made progress, but I still believe our best days lie ahead. We have to work even harder to get there,\u201d Mnguni said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, he believes the hardships shaped him. \u201cThe experience of being a security guard was humbling. People don\u2019t choose their circumstances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat taught me empathy, discipline, and focus \u2014 qualities that have carried me throughout my journey.\u201d He added that Benguela is looking to almost triple its assets under management over the next 10 years to R20 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zwelakhe Mnguni went from a job as a security guard to co-founding an asset management company that today oversees around R7.2 billion in assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":837456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[12777,853],"class_list":["post-837425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-benguela-global-fund-managers","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837425"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837825,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837425\/revisions\/837825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}