Thami Manzi is a man with ambition and a clear vision. This alumnus of the North-West University’s (NWU's) campus in Vanderbijlpark, has made his mark as a successful and self-made serial entrepreneur who knows about giving back, and whose thriving businesses are creating job opportunities for people in his community.

He boasts more than 18 years of experience in the consumer retail industry. He started out as a street vendor selling deli products to the community of the Vaal, south of Johannesburg. He comes a long way and remembers his humble beginnings and the many people who played a role in his success.  

His hard work and perseverance coupled with his undying sense of vision opened new horizons for him to see his retail business Ola Superstores; enter into a unique partnership with major retail chain Pick n Pay. The essence of the partnership is to establish a first full service Market Store that offers a full product range and created significant and sustainable employment opportunities for the local youth. Thami’s strong sense of social consciousness has him ploughing back to his community and the broader society.  He serves on the board of the Bophelong Tutorial Programme (BTP) a non-profit organisation (NGO) that interfaces with schools in the Bophelong township to foster quality education through intervention and support programmes such as winter camps and weekend extra classes for grades 11 and 12 focusing on Maths, Physical Science, Accounting and English.

Thami won the Global Business Roundtable’s Global Chairperson of the Year Award in 2013 for leadership excellence. He has received numerous other awards, including the Township Entrepreneur Award from the Gauteng Department of Economic Development and Khanyisa awards for service excellence from the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development.

Thami is passionate about local economic development and he put his academic education -he obtained a BCom degree in Business Management from the NWU’s campus in Vanderbijlpark, to good use. In 2008 he championed the local enterprise development initiative under the Mpumelelo business hub in Bophelong. The hub created and capacitated more than 24 SME’s.

In October 2017 the NWU applauded Thami for his business acumen and excellence.

You can watch a short video on Thami’s achievement, as prepared for the NWU Alumni Awards 2017 by clicking here.