Simon Mtsuki comes from a commercial background, armed with a B.Comm Accounting from Wits University; he spent most of his university holidays and formative career years working with young entrepreneurs and small businesses.

After graduating he relinquished a corporate job to pursue his own business, SGM Motivations PTY LTD. In 2014, he was appointed as the Ambassador of the Eskom Development Foundation’s Simama Ranta competition which aims to create young entrepreneurs from school level.

He was subsequently requested to serve as an adjudicator for the Eskom’s Business Investment Competition in 2016. The Business Investment Competition is one of South Africa’s notable Small Business competitions – focusing on sectors such as Agriculture, Trade and Services, Construction, Engineering and Manufacturing. He is also one of the regular contributors in the annual Small Business Expo (SBE) held at the TicketPro Dome in Johannesburg.

Simon Mtsuki has a passion for youth development started in university where he co-founded and worked on a variety of young leader development projects. His love for developing the next generation of leaders was honed and has its foundation in these early projects that he put together while he was still a student.

His most notable programme was one he ran in his hometown – the Emalahleni Young Leader Development Programme. This programme focused on the addressing the four main causes of university drop-outs. Using career development programmes and life-skill interventions, this programme assisted students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, within Emalahleni, to be better prepared for university.

The programme not only increased pass rates in some of the schools that participated, but also assisted students in obtaining funding for their tertiary studies.

At the age of 23, Simon was asked to join the co-author team of the Oxford University Press, co-authoring the Grade 7 – 9 and 11 Life Orientation textbooks. This is mainly attributable to his unique perspective on life principles and his ability to translate them to young people. To date, the textbooks have sold more than 120 000 copies nationwide.

In 2015, Simon wrote his first book, ‘The Road to Varsity’ which is a university starter-kit that equips students with the skills that they need to make the transition from high school to university. He has shared the principles of the book with close to 10 000 young people with close to 8 000  copies sold.

In his current role, Simon Mtsuki speaks on a variety of platforms in the young leader development space. He works with private companies, state owned enterprises and professional bodies in furthering their young leader development objectives, both within and outside of their companies.

Simon Mtsuki approach to serving his clients has enabled him to become more than just a speaker in programmes and at events but as a strategic partner – enhancing his clients’ experiences. Simon has worked with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) on their Thuthuka Development Camps, the Eskom Development Foundation, Investec and multi-nationals such as Ernst & Young, FNB & DHL.

Simon Mtsuki – Entrepreneur Motivational speaking philosophy:

 

• • Evoking the Greatness Within: “I believe that everyone has an inner greatness, you have to tap into it and stir it up. Once you can tap into this, incentive is complimentary“.

• • Empowering People with Principles: “Principles are those timeless tools that we can use to navigate through life’s toughest trials/challenges right up to the destination, to our desired goal”.

• • Being Culturally Relevant: “A speaker, just like an artist, must be able to be relevant to the culture and the times to which he is speaking to”.