Mr Ngobese is an actuary and the co-founder & CEO of WeSolve4x. He grew up in a township of Katlehong, in the city of Ekurhuleni (east of Johannesburg) in Gauteng.

1. How old were you when you decided to pursue your current career path and what inspired you?

I was 16 years old in 2010 when I decided to follow my current career path. As a grade 10 confused learner I decided to follow the Actuarial profession following an amazing presentation at our weekend school project (where I was a learner) at Kutlwanong Project for Maths and Science by a representative from SAADP (South African Actuarial Development Programme).

The description of the career and the challenges that it offers resonated with my belief, I immediately visualised myself as an Actuary and got inspired. What was more of an interest for me was being an entrepreneur who uses a high level of maths to make financial sense of the future. Nine years later I am a proud actuary and a young entrepreneur as a Wesolve4x co-founder and CEO.

2. Did you ever get help with career guidance? Any mentor(s) & what role did they play?

I did get career guidance from my life orientation educators and other educators from primary to secondary school, some of my customers as a street vendor and community members who would always suggest a few careers that might suite my character. 

My mentors were mostly my elders, community members, costumers, educators and my parents who instilled many different important values at different stages in my life. “it takes a village to raise a child” an African proverb I live by and the role many of my direct and indirect mentors played. These are my mentors who shaped my future and believed in me before I started believing in myself.  

3. What challenges did you face (or are facing) / had to overcome in your journey?

My biggest challenge was completing my 3-year actuarial degree which to me 5 years to complete. I had to overcome my self-doubt with my belief, when everything seemed imposed and together with self-doubt of my potential and ability to complete my actuarial degree. I had to stimulate myself, believe that I too can be counted as an Actuary in South Africa and globally. Through determination and self-belief I managed to complete my studies in 2017.

4. What has been your biggest driver/motivator?

My biggest driver is to transform township businesses and the township economy with my scarce specialised skills, what has been lacking for informal trades aka street vendors for decades. As a street vendor for the past 18 years, I have now learned that I was part of a big business as the township and rural economy account for over R400 Billion in South Africa. 

I am currently at the forefront of waking up the sleeping giant. As a way of giving back to our communities is an integral part of the Wesolve4x Foundation, through educating street vendors to understand capital structure and risk management so they can build philosophical businesses that will create jobs. 

My motivation is to build our own financial institution that speaks directly to the values of our informal trades/street vendors, township communities so that we can uplift our people out of poverty on the principle of Ubuntu.  

5. What advice or key learning points from your journey would you like people to take on to theirs?

We have the solutions to our own challenges, which we fully understand and are our lived reality. By solving our own problems without fear we are creating opportunities that will translate to more job opportunities in our society.

6. Any advice for a young person from a rural area / township who currently has no clue where to even start when choosing a career path?      

In this digital age era, they don’t have an excuse, they should start using the internet as a learning tool to find more opportunities in the 4th industrial revolution to position themselves better because technology is advancing, and most careers are being automated. 

Self-belief will help them inspire, impact and empower our nation.