Like any 19-year-old University student, Musa Kalenga was interested in having fun during his years at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. Therefore, when he and his friends gathered to seriously pursue their first business venture, Monatefellaz, it came as a shock to those who knew him well. Having just started the first year of University, Musa was already thinking about entrepreneurship as a way to work for himself and become his own boss. He had the “age-old” desire to become a “millionaire by 30”.
Musa’s growth as an entrepreneur took an ‘organic’ approach.
“Our first job was with one of the top four banks. We had to research the youth (market) and produce solutions around savings and investments in order to build market share and teach them how to save,” he says.
“Since that first campaign, everything just seemed to pick up and we got more and more jobs.”
Challenges are inevitable during the entrepreneurial journey, for Musa, it was being young and black and dealing with imposter syndrome that would cause him to self-doubt and question his chosen path.
“I didn’t know running a business or being an entrepreneur was a thing. I didn’t have that glamourous view of entrepreneurship as it is defined today. It was a bonus for people to pay to solve a problem,” he says.
To know more: Anzisha Prize Hall of Fame: Ten Young African Entrepreneurs!
