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Cape Town - Khayelitsha entrepreneur Luvuyo Rani, owner of Silulo Ulutho Technologies, has clinched the 2014 JCI Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World award in the Business/Entrepreneurial category.
Rani, who hails from Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, told Fin24 in an earlier article about his nomination that he started his business out of the boot of his car ten years ago.
He grabbed a unique opportunity brought about by the education department's introduction of the Outcomes Based Education (OBE), which meant that teachers, who had never used computers before, suddenly had to learn how to use them.
The demand for computers and computer literacy was so great that Rani opened the first ever internet cafe in Khayelitsha with partners Nandipha Matshoba and Sigqibo Pangabantu. Today Silulo consists of 32 stores around the country, spread across the Eastern and Western Cape.
Rani's entrepreneurial roots run deep, with his mother as tavern owner fostering and sharpening his entrepreneurial skills from an early age. "Helping my mom with selling in the tavern helped to develop and sharpen my sales and customer service skills," he told Fin24.
The Junior Chamber International (JCI) programme each year honours 10 outstanding young people under the age of 40 who provide extraordinary service to their communities and through service, innovation, determination or revolutionary thinking create a positive impact on a local and global level.
Rani sent Fin24 a letter in which he shared his German experience:
He writes: "I would just like to update you on the trip to Germany.
"It was indeed an honour to be honoured as one of the top ten most outstanding young persons in the world for entrepreneurship.
What I've learned in Germany?
There are many young people around the world who are making a difference in changing their communities through innovation, education and entrepreneurship. Their activities have a huge social impact in the countries in which they operate.
As South Africans and Africans there is so much that we could do to address our socio-economic problems through innovation and entrepreneurship.
People I've met
I met my fellow Outstanding Young Persons in the World who are doing exceptionally well in different fields such as engineering, academics, sport, education and business. I had the opportunity to meet some of the four thousand JCI members in attendance from different countries.
WATCH: All the winners
Observations
I observed that countries from Middle East, Europe and Asia which are members of JCI are very active in JCI and celebrate entrepreneurial success and those people who are doing outstanding work in their countries are highly recognised.
Entrepreneurship environment
The environment is conducive for entrepreneurs to prosper and there is so much support given to entrepreneurs to flourish and to grow.
There is so much networking and connecting of people between different countries and there is encouragement for collaboration. There is encouragement given to businesses to give back to communities and make a difference.
South Africa this is for you, thanks for your support. pic.twitter.com/jMVBm8zYN6
— Luvuyo (@Luvuyo10) November 28, 2014
It weighs 10kg, bringing it home. pic.twitter.com/QybndNQe4s
— Luvuyo (@Luvuyo10) November 29, 2014* Write a guest post
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