Johannesburg - Vuli Cuba, the co-founder of Safika Holdings, is stepping down as the chief executive of the diversified black economic empowerment (BEE) investment holding group to pursue his entrepreneurial passion.
Cuba, who traces his entrepreneurial roots to an information technology (IT) consulting business he started in his Sandton flat, has been Safika's chief executive since 1995, when he and Moss Ngoasheng formed the company.
A source familiar with the matter said last night that Cuba would walk off with Safika's 67 percent shareholding in SafikaTel, a specialist telecoms services company. SafikaTel management, led by Calum McCracken, owns the remaining 33 percent of SafikaTel.
Cuba, who owns 20 percent of Safika Holdings, will pay for the SafikaTel shares by reducing his shareholding in Safika. The BEE firm's other shareholders are Ngoasheng (20 percent), Saki Macozoma (20 percent), Standard Bank (20 percent), Marc Ber (10 percent), Soto Ndukwana (5 percent) and Richard Chauke (5 percent).
SafikaTel's services include auto-interactive telephone technology, which is used in public vote lines, according to a Financial Mail article.
The company's services are used in programmes such as M-Net's Idols to enable viewers to phone or SMS their votes.
Safika's investments are in financial services IT, property and natural resources.