Durban - South Africa’s newly crowned top young executive for this year, Ayanda Vilakazi, says the beauty of hard work and dedication is knowing that in the end, abundance lies in wait.
Vilakazi, 37, who grew up in Umlazi and cited his grandmother as the person to whom he attributed the seeds of his success, said he was largely protected from the direct and “brutal effect of apartheid”, and that growing up in the township had provided him with invaluable training.
“I am glad to have been raised in the township... It made me streetwise and I have used that to achieve business success,” he said.
Citing Richard Branson, Nicky Oppenheimer, Patrice Motsepe and Mark Zuckerberg as some of the role models he would most love to meet, Vilakazi said he would like to learn from them.
“How they overcome challenges in business, what gave them a break to be successful and how they are involved in developing and creating opportunities for young business executives,” Vilakazi said.
He matriculated from Commercial High School before enrolling for a BCom at the then Natal University in marketing management, business administration and maritime economics. He completed an Honours degree in marketing management.
Citing his proudest moments as completing his Master’s in Business Administration and his Doctorate in Business Administration (UKZN) at the ages of 27 and 37 respectively, Vilakazi said becoming an internationally published author of three books was an achievement he similarly prized.
He said writing the books was what he loved: contributing to knowledge which could help professionals improve their understanding of business processes and re-engineering. The father of five is the head of marketing and communication at the Coega Development Corporation outside Port Elizabeth.
Vilakazi quoted the wartime British prime minister, Winston Churchill: “Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
“Failure has never been an option; when obstacles came my way, I remembered the ultimate prize: achieving success in business and career,” Vilakazi said.
Vilakazi, who serves on a number of company boards and is a member of the audit and risk committee at the South African State Theatre in Pretoria, advised the matric class of 2015 to view finishing school not as an end of schooling, but a new start.
“The journey towards achieving greatness has just begun,” he said.
THE MERCURY