Steaming powerhouse of talent
Founder and owner of Mahlasedi Media and Communication (MMC), Fortune 'DJ Cappuccino' Maswanganyi, pursues his love of the music industry through his business ventures.
POLOKWANE – Maswanganyi heads the event logistics, customer service teams and is responsible for event production under the Renewable Energy Indaba and its other subsidiary companies. Aside from all of this, he is also a master behind the decks.
“I was born and bred in Temba, Hammanskraal but have strong roots in ka-Xigamani in Malamulele, my father’s birthplace,” he shared.
When he’s on stage, DJ Cappuccino plays and mixes good music and it is abundantly clear why he is such a crowd favourite. Prior to co-founding the Indaba, he worked for the Department of Water Affairs as a trainee technician, responsible for water quality assurance. He also worked at the petrochemical industry giant, Sasol, as a process engineer.
He has vast experience in radio broadcasting and has worked as a radio presenter at the first and only commercial radio station in Limpopo, Capricorn FM, and he’s been a well-known club DJ going by the brand name, DJ Cappuccino. Besides the music and entertainment industry, he was recently a lecturer at the Central University of Technology and he obtained a B.Tech degree in chemical engineering, a BA degree in media studies and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He is currently studying towards a master of philosophy in media studies.
“I started playing as a DJ in the 1990’s, but I only started playing professionally in 2008.”
He told BONUS he initially became a DJ as a pure survival technique and to build his brand which he planned to utilise for networking.
“Being a DJ is a passionate hobby of mine, so when I’m not behind the decks, I’ll be on campus studying or rather reading,” he added.
Fortune has produced more than 50 songs with his most prominent singles being Undenza ndibe shushu, Sweet n Tender, Kofifi Vibez and the latest one, uMusa, is getting great airplay on local radio stations and is one of his favourites.
He is also an international act and divulged he will be playing at Club Glow in Turkey, Istanbul this week, an opportunity he greatly looks forward to.
Fortune’s advice to aspiring DJ’s is that passion is immaterial and that one should just perfect their skills in order to be relevant as a DJ.
“When you have skills, your confidence level rises. Treat your passion as business, respect yourself as a brand and, most importantly, education is key as I believe it solves Africa’s problems. It’s not too late to go to school or learn. You can never be secure enough to stop acquiring education,” he advised.
