Olebogeng Manhe

Olebogeng Manhe Group Chairman & Co-Founder of GIC | Strategic Leader in Infrastructure, Mining & Energy | Passionate About Uplifting Communities | Project Executive

Africa’s energy future will depend on what happens across borders as much as within them.Last month, IOL News covered th...
08/06/2026

Africa’s energy future will depend on what happens across borders as much as within them.

Last month, IOL News covered the potential of regional electricity corridors and the opportunity to build more connected energy systems across the continent.

I think African leaders, investors, and infrastructure businesses should take this idea seriously. No country can solve its energy challenge in isolation.

Grid integration, transmission infrastructure, regional cooperation, and better cross-border planning can help turn fragmented generation into shared resilience. As demand continues to rise across the continent, there is real value in looking beyond national supply and thinking about regional strength.

We’ve seen how effective cross-border collaboration can be in the telecoms sector, with providers leveraging each other’s assets to avoid duplicating infrastructure, which in South Africa has supported multiple providers operating in market.

The opportunity is significant. The task now is to match that potential with the funding, coordination, and delivery needed to make regional electricity corridors work in practice.

A first job is often a first step into responsibility.I was thinking about this recently after reading a piece by Activa...
04/06/2026

A first job is often a first step into responsibility.

I was thinking about this recently after reading a piece by Activate Change Drivers on how high youth unemployment has shaped early adulthood for many young South Africans.

Long job searches, informal work, short-term contracts, and limited security have become part of the reality for too many young people.

It made me think about how much weight a first opportunity really carries.

A first job teaches a young person how to arrive on time, speak to different people, handle pressure, take responsibility, and understand what it means to contribute to something bigger than themselves. It also builds confidence.

Many young people have the ability, but they cannot build experience without being given a place to start. A first role and proper guidance can give talent somewhere to take shape.

The Industrial Development Corporation’s recent decision to shift its strategy towards mobilising capital for investment...
03/06/2026

The Industrial Development Corporation’s recent decision to shift its strategy towards mobilising capital for investment in new and emerging sectors is a positive move for South Africa’s economy.

Access to growth capital remains one of the bottlenecks holding back sectors with real potential, including battery manufacturing, critical minerals, the blue economy, tourism, agriculture, and agro-processing.

Many good ideas and capable businesses struggle to move from potential to scale because the right capital is not available at the right time.

The more capital support available to these sectors, the better our chances of building industries that create jobs, strengthen local capability, and open new areas of participation in the economy.

I also hope this shift encourages quicker decision-making within the IDC. For South Africa, this kind of ambition is welcome. The real opportunity now is to make sure it translates into timely support for the sectors that can help carry the next phase of growth.

The devastating floods that affected parts of South Africa’s wine industry in May really highlights the challenges facin...
02/06/2026

The devastating floods that affected parts of South Africa’s wine industry in May really highlights the challenges facing the country’s wine industry.

Estates on and near the Breede River were badly affected, showing once again how exposed this industry can be to severe weather. Climate change is making that risk increasingly clear.

From a Blaauwklippen Vineyards perspective, I know how much hard work happens at an estate to get a bottle of wine to the shop shelves. Each estate supports the livelihoods of many people, including farm workers and cellar teams, suppliers, tourism partners, hospitality businesses, and surrounding communities.

When a farm is affected, the damage reaches the people, businesses, and communities connected to it.

As affected estates assess the damage, my thoughts are with the farms, teams, families, and communities affected by these floods. I hope they recover strongly and come back better than ever, so they can continue advancing South African viniculture on the world stage.

GoTyme Bank has already broken boundaries by becoming Africa’s first profitable digital-only bank.Now it has taken the n...
01/06/2026

GoTyme Bank has already broken boundaries by becoming Africa’s first profitable digital-only bank.

Now it has taken the next step by giving its global team of around 2,000 employees, across all levels of the business, the opportunity to become shareholders as it scales.

It’s a powerful and far-reaching decision.

CEO Cheslyn Jacobs said the aim is to encourage staff to “behave like owners”. That idea resonates with me because ownership changes how people see their role in a business.

When employees have a stake in the company, their work connects directly and indirectly to the value built. It creates accountability and a stronger sense of responsibility for the future of the business.

Growth becomes far more meaningful when the people helping to build the company can also participate in its success!

The best sporting partnerships are built on trust, timing, and knowing when to step in or support.They carry the moment ...
28/05/2026

The best sporting partnerships are built on trust, timing, and knowing when to step in or support.
They carry the moment together.

Leadership is the same.

Strong partnerships bring steadiness. They sharpen judgment, lighten pressure, and create a sense of shared responsibility and trust, which oils great work.

That is one of the things I value in my partnership with Roelof van den Berg.

We are building, together, and share a deep sense of responsibility to make our country and region a better place for as many people as possible. When your goals and values are the same, the next question is: what can we do next?

I’m very excited for the future.

27/05/2026

I appreciate frameworks that help narrow the focus, and the Hedgehog Concept is strong in that regard.

Jim Collins frames it around three questions: what you care deeply about, what you can be best at, and what drives your economic engine. When those three begin lining up, focus becomes much clearer.

I like that because it moves the conversation past broad ambition.

It is fairly easy to say what you care about. The harder work is testing if the capability is truly there, and if the work can be sustained properly over time. That is usually where the sharper thinking begins.

Clarity gets stronger when purpose, capability, and sustainability are working together. Once that alignment is in place, focus becomes easier to use in practice.

Events in Iran have had a major effect on oil prices, but another, lesser-noticed effect has been the surge in pistachio...
26/05/2026

Events in Iran have had a major effect on oil prices, but another, lesser-noticed effect has been the surge in pistachio prices.

Iran is the second-largest producer of pistachios worldwide, producing around 200,000 tons in the 2025-2026 cycle (with the US leading with 712,682 tons).

The surge in pricing has led to Karoo Pistachios ramping up output to capitalise on the surge in pricing, according to a report by Bloomberg I recently saw.

What's more, the company is based in Prieska in the Northern Cape, where GIC has partnered with the local community to deliver essential services.

With the company aiming to increase production by 1000-fold by 2040, the jobs that may arise will have a substantial and positive impact on the surrounding community.

South Africa is also currently the only place where you can grow pistachios at scale across Africa, meaning there is a major opportunity for our country, and the supporting agricultural ecosystem, waiting to be unlocked.

I think future careers in engineering deserve more visibility than they often receive.Delivery depends on people who can...
25/05/2026

I think future careers in engineering deserve more visibility than they often receive.

Delivery depends on people who can design, build, solve, and carry technical responsibility over time. Those skills sit close to the centre of whether projects can move well and whether systems can keep performing once they are in place.

If more young people are going to find their way into engineering, the path has to feel visible and properly supported.

Education plays its part, but so do mentorship and practical exposure. That is where future delivery starts taking shape.

Since entering business, I cannot tell you how much “wellness" in work has changed over the last two decades. Forward-th...
21/05/2026

Since entering business, I cannot tell you how much “wellness" in work has changed over the last two decades.

Forward-thinking leaders and businesses have come to realise that you gain far more from encouraging team members to live balanced lifestyles versus being "on" all the time.

For example, I'm lucky to visit when I can because I can disconnect and work, if I choose, depending on what happening that day.

In my early career, I became so used to working long and late that it seemed second nature.

However, as things have changed, the luxury of "time" and with your loved ones is something I will never take for granted. And I'm better for it.

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