Basetsana Kumalo Shares 5 Business Principles That Shaped Her 30-Year Career
- Basetsana Kumalo, who was crowned Miss South Africa in 1994, has built an empire spanning television, mining, fashion and property
- The media entrepreneur revealed the five principles behind her business longevity ahead of her appearance at the MANCOSA Jacaranda FM Business Breakfast
- Kumalo opened up about nearly quitting the mining sector before choosing to push forward for a greater purpose
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From beauty queen to business powerhouse, Basetsana Kumalo has spent three decades building one of South Africa's most diverse entrepreneurial portfolios. Now, she's pulling back the curtain on exactly how she did it.
Kumalo, who won the Miss South Africa crown in 1994, launched her first media production company at just 20 years old. She went on to carve out space in television production, fashion design, property development and, perhaps most surprisingly, mining — a sector where women remain significantly underrepresented. She has also established herself as a mentor and advocate along the way.
Ahead of her appearance at the MANCOSA Jacaranda FM Business Breakfast in a few days, Kumalo shared the five principles that have guided her approach to business, leadership and longevity.
How Kumalo built her business empire
Her first principle is to let passion carry you through the difficult seasons. The second is to surround yourself with people who are better than you. Third, she emphasises the importance of reinvesting in the business. Fourth, she urges entrepreneurs to remember the bigger purpose. And fifth, she says you must stay true to your course.
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It was that fourth principle that proved most critical during one of her toughest chapters. After spending five years working to establish herself in the male-dominated mining sector, Kumalo admitted she was close to walking away.
"When things got tough in mining, I thought about quitting, but I told myself: 'Basetsana, you do not have the choice or an option to quit. You have a responsibility to use the platform, use the stage for the greater good,'" she said. "And so, we charged along."
Source: Instagram
For Kumalo, entrepreneurship has never been purely about personal gain. She believes business owners carry a wider responsibility to the communities around them.
"You have to wake up in the morning and say to yourself as an entrepreneur, I have an opportunity to create jobs," she said.
It's a philosophy that has shaped every venture she has pursued, from her earliest days in media production to her boardroom battles in mining. For South African entrepreneurs navigating their own difficult seasons, Kumalo's story offers a blueprint that is as practical as it is inspiring.
Kumalo family vacation
In a previous report from Briefly News, Kumalo family vacation was everything. Basetsana Kumalo gave her followers a peek into her family's European summer holiday through a series of posts on social media.
The businesswoman and her family visited several stunning destinations, including Santorini, Montenegro, Kusadasi and Rhodes.
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Source: Briefly News
