Entrepreneur

Every year Google conducts a search for 10 international students who demonstrate “strong leadership capabilities, entrepreneurial drive and a commitment to social activism”. In 2012, 20-year-old Sibusiso Tshabalala, a third-year BCom law student, was selected as one of Google’s 10 Young Minds. He was chosen because of his Afrika Kusama initiative, which promotes literacy and critical thinking skills among previously disadvantaged learners in the Free State. He could have been chosen for many reasons.

A former junior mayor of the Matjhabeng municipality and current Democratic Alliance Youth Free State chair, Tshabalala sits on the board of the Inqubela Foundation, which seeks to develop high school- age learners in a holistic way. He was also one of 100 students worldwide who were invited to attend the South American Business Forum in Argentina in 2011. Tshabalala may be used to winning many debate competitions, but he can’t debate the fact that he is already making his Afrikaans teacher and mentor, Henry Welman, proud.

— Cat Pritchard

Twitter: @sbutshabs