Rali Mampeule, Forbes Real Estate Council Member and Global Surgery Foundation founding donor is set to attend Davos 2024 to shape global Conversations. The 2024 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) takes place from 15-19 January in Davos, Switzerland, under the theme, 'Rebuilding Trust'. The meeting welcomes over 100 governments, major international organisations and the Forum's 1000 partner companies as well as civil society leaders, foremost experts, young changemakers, social entrepreneurs and the media.
BUSINESSMAN A REGULAR AT WEF
The highflyer businessman is not new to the world's biggest stage of business as he has attended several of the WEF meetings before, sometimes alongside a delegation from the government. Mampeule is considered one of the success stories of black excellence having started his journey in business by selling boerewors rolls on the side of the road while a part-time student at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
UNCHARTERED TERRITORY
Interestingly, Mampeule? entrepreneurial spirit inspired him to venture into unchartered territories of real estate known to be dominated by white people, becoming the first black estate agent and founding the first black-owned state agency at the age of 24. He told ZiMoja that it was his R26 million investment in a property development in Midrand that set him on a path to becoming one of the big players in the property industry.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
Mampeule who founded and now owns a multi-billion Rand infrastructure fund, South African Housing Infrastructure Fund, which assists government and state-owned entities with building low-cost houses, said his journey in the property business also had some humble beginnings having started first as a delivery boy at Chas Everitt, tasked with dropping flyers in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg, before becoming an estate agent at the same company. Mampeule told Zimoja that the delivery opportunity taught him a lot, amongst other things important attributes such as discipline, mentoring and giving back. He said it was during this period that he learned that mentoring people made a difference and was quite impactful.
THE BOLD MOVE
Mampeule's ambition led him to open his estate agency at the age of 24 where he employed "just under 40 estate agents." In 2005 Mampeule founded the Rali Mampeule Learnership Foundation to bring 'new blood into the old vein of real estate'. Today he promotes digital inclusivity through his investment in MetroFibre Networx, which provides reliable and high-quality fibre internet connectivity. To date, he said the company has connected more than 301,481 households.
PHILANTHROPIST
However, of all his achievements and accolades, the Forbes Real Estate Council Member said founding the Global Surgery Foundation was one of his proudest moments. This, he said was because he believes that the Global Surgery Foundation (GSF) will become as significant as the Aids Foundation and the Red Cross eventually. The business dynamo's original motivation for funding the Global Surgery Foundation was personal, he said. His melodious voice goes down a notch with sadness as he shares that one of his sisters passed away giving birth a few years ago.
"Surgical procedures kill more people than TB and malaria combined," he says quietly.
MAMPEULE THRIVES
The Harvard graduate is involved in a few start-up businesses, supporting Green Riders, a last-mile mobility delivery business and aims to create 50,000 green jobs over the next five years. He recently invested in a kickboxing league SFL in South Africa and prepared the youth for the 2028 Olympics.
