Shumani Tshifhango
Mr Shumani Tshifhango is an investment banker who grew up at Shayandima, just outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo. He stayed in his uncle’s house as a family of 13 until he was 8 years old when his mother got her own house. Candle lighting and pushing wheelbarrows was a way of living as there was no electricity and water for the longest time.
How old were you when you decided to pursue your current career path and what inspired you?
I decided after 3rd year of Engineering that I would like to work for an investment bank. At University, I was heavily involved with different societies, this was to try to expand my knowledge beyond the engineering degree I was studying.
Investment society was one of the societies I was heavily involved in. After interacting with different students with similar interests and individuals who were in the industry already through the society, I was convinced that I should go for the finance industry.
Did you ever get help with career guidance? Any mentor(s) & what role did they play?
Unfortunately, I did not have career guidance and mentors when I was at University. To be honest, one of the mistakes I made was not finding a mentor to guide me to that path.
I was privileged to go to UCT and have a lot of my friends that had similar interests. Most of the friends were much knowledgeable about the industry and I leveraged their knowledge. One other thing I did as someone that didn’t understand the industry properly was to study Master of Commerce in Risk Management in Financial markets, after studying engineering. This helped me to have a better understanding of which finance field was more suitable for a person with my skills and interest.
What challenges did you face (or are facing) / had to overcome in your journey?
I faced a lot of challenges at University. After my dad passed away, my academics shambled, and I ended up losing my scholarship. As a result of that I found myself with no one paying for my fees (until getting NSFAS), being homeless at some point and on the verge of being financially excluded.
I constantly had to raise money and ask different faculties at UCT (AFRIM) to bail me out. Through the help of so many people (the list is endless) I was able to overcome most of my obstacles at University.
What has been your biggest driver/motivator?
My biggest driver has been understanding the difficulty I went through to get where I am. As a result of that I want to represent and help kids that come from the same or worse circumstances as I do.
My second driver is mom. She worked really hard to get me where I am today (using R800 domestic worker Salary) and not even once did I ever think I was poor, or did she make me feel like I wasn’t going to achieve my dreams. She always inspired me to shoot beyond the moon and was willing to sacrifice her life to get me to the stars.
What advice or key learning points from your journey would you like people to take on to theirs?
Do not try to fit in with everyone. At some point I wanted to build a perspective that I came from a rich family when I was at UCT. This was a result of wanting to fit in at UCT and be considered as a “cool kid”. Sometimes that required me to waste so much money on alcohol and clothes.
I was continuously losing myself every day and that resulted in me living my life for people. As a result, my academics started to struggle. At one moment I realized that I only have one opportunity and do not have a lot of second chances like a lot of these guys whom most of them were from relatively rich families.
As a result of that I started understanding that there is so much power and pride in my story. After that, I started living the life I wanted to live and embodied my story.
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?
Find a mentor. Use social media for the good of it and do not be scared to approach strangers to help you. If you have access to the internet, start researching as soon as you can and if you do not have, ask teachers in your school to help you with people that can help you figure that out.
There are a lot of organizations that have started to solve these kinds of problems. Find those and learn as much as you can.
Remember that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Be brave when you must do that, because bravery will always expose you to more than what you know.