What more can he achieve?
He is empowering the youth to strive through education and entrepreneurial activities.
Lesego Maphanga has been working hard to make a name for himself in various industries at just 27 years old.
Maphanga is the host of the Urban Culture Drive on CliffCentral, with his co-hosts Craig Ngonyama and Candice Coulsen.
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When he’s not on radio, he works as an emerging payments manager at Standard Bank.
He is also the co-founder of the social entrepreneurship movement called Unplugged and InCharge.
In 2014, he graduated from the University of Pretoria with an industrial and systems engineering degree.
He said his love for business and science made him study towards the degree.
“Industrial engineering is a qualification that compasses the worlds of engineering, systems and business. I think this was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made,” he said.
He added that during his last year at university, he was headhunted by Deloitte and Standard Bank.
The former Benoni High School learner said his journey into radio has been an interesting one as he had no formal training in the craft.
“During my honour’s year, I decided that I wanted to be more than an engineer; I had more ambition than that,” he said.
“I listened to a lot of radio while studying and I thought it would be an interesting challenge to be on the other side of radio and supply entertaining and engaging content.
“I used to compile radio show presentations of a show I would like to host and I would send them to different radio stations and, of course, I got a lot of rejection letters, but I persevered.
“One day the co-founder of CliffCentral, Rina Wilken called me. She said she would love to have a meeting and the rest is history.”
The Crystal Park resident prides himself on his ethical ways of conducting business, hence he found the inspiration to co-found Unplugged and InCharge, a social entrepreneurship movement aimed at empowering the youth to strive to better themselves through education and entrepreneurial activities.
He founded the movement with two of his friends, and they host seminars and workshops that bring a fresh, young and dynamic approach to business and leadership topics.
Maphanga has a number of accolades under his name.
He was named Destiny Man top 40 under 40 most influential men in corporate, Mr South Africa 2014 finalist and Mr Gauteng 2014.
When asked what keeps him motivated, he said: “I loved to compete ever since I was an athlete and I still have the passion to better myself physically, mentally and emotionally every day.
“The only role models I have are my mother, Elizabeth and my sister Promise Booysen because I have witnessed how they have grown in their careers and that gave me the confidence to dare to be the best engineer, banker, entrepreneur and radio personality in the industry.”
Maphanga said when he’s not busy, he volunteers in different foundations and also assists high school learners who are struggling with maths and science in various townships.
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