The average shack in South Africa has just two or three windows and you can easily walk its length in just 20 strides. It’s a far cry from the Cape Town offices of Bright Path Business Consultants Inc – yet this is where it all began for founder TJ Ledwaba.
‘Staying in a shack and studying via distance learning is very different from studying on campus. On one hand, I was lucky – no one knew that I was wearing the same old clothes. But when it came to taking my place among my colleagues during articles, I was at a disadvantage: I had never mixed with so many different people before. I didn’t really know how to type on a laptop, and I couldn’t drive.’ That’s how TJ remembers his entry into the profession – and yet, he’s the first to admit that his humble beginnings have given him an outlook which benefits all those he meets.
Indeed, TJ is determined to pass on the help that he received during his journey. ‘It was almost as if I had a chain of angels looking after me at different times: they would walk some of the way with me, then stand back so that someone else could take over,’ he says.
A difficult start
The first was his grandmother, who saw his potential from an early age. She convinced his father that moving away from their Limpopo village would make it possible for TJ to find better opportunities. It wasn’t an easy choice for either of them but, with five siblings, TJ felt a responsibility to improve the family’s quality of life.
TJ and his father had an itinerant lifestyle, moving from Polokwane to Soweto, with his father scraping a living by selling things, from clothes to lotions. TJ picked up on this entrepreneurial flair, earning extra money by selling what he could. By Grade 8, he’d become adept at identifying money-making opportunities, trading everything from biscuits to carry-bags.
TJ’s determination to change his life hadn’t abated – and in Grade 10, he found what he believed would be the key. ‘I was lucky to have a friend whose father worked for De Beers. At the time, the company hosted a weekend school, and although it was supposed to be for family only, my friend’s father arranged for me to attend. It got me out of the township and made me realise where I wanted to channel my energies’ – which was into a career in accounts. TJ explains that even from an early age, accounting made sense to him, and he was often asked by his teachers to mark his classmates’ work.
However, despite an impressive set of matric results, it seemed that he had hit a cul de sac after finishing school – there simply weren’t funds for further study. Fortunately, the National Student Aid Financial Scheme (NSFAS) stepped in to provide finance for TJ to study through Unisa – and so the Soweto shack became his classroom.
It was a gruelling four years culminating in a graduation day that left TJ a little heartbroken. ‘It was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, but without transport and wearing old clothes, I can’t say it was.’ He’s made a concerted to ensure that none of his siblings have had to experience the same heartache: each of their graduations has been a true celebration, he says. And he has supported them in other ways, too: one of the first purchases he made after receiving his stipend for articles was a set of beds for his family: ‘It was the first time they slept in a bed.’
TJ’s struggles weren’t over, however. Failing his CTA exams three times (even after taking unpaid leave to study) left him feeling embarrassed and despondent until one of his firm’s partners taught him the secrets of time management. This partner was another of his ‘angels’ – and was shortly replaced by a cousin in Cape Town, where TJ moved in the hopes of finding a job. ‘He told me that I had to stop worrying about my family and instead concentrate on building myself up.’ These were words that TJ needed to hear, but aside from the permission to focus on his dreams, TJ’s cousin gave him a something else: a glimpse of the life he could live. ‘The house we shared was always filled with lawyers and other professionals. They were real role models and made me realise that the people you are exposed to are all important.’
Creating opportunities
Galvanised in this manner, TJ passed his ITC and APC exams (with help from SAICA) and got his first job. In 2019, he resigned to start his own firm because, he says, ‘employment was not an option for someone like me. I wanted my own business so that I could create and enjoy more opportunities.’
At first, those opportunities were slow coming: TJ established Bright Path Consultants Inc months before the COVID lockdowns, without any clients or even equipment. But he managed to turn this difficult time to his advantage: ‘Many companies were struggling with issues around compliance, so this became a boom time for accountants. Plus, the lockdown gave me time to concentrate on building the business without any distractions.’
Thinking smart helped him to scale the business: when he learnt that colleges were looking for 18-month placements for students in financial management, business management and marketing (to be funded by SETA), his flair for spotting opportunity went into overdrive. This was undoubtedly a win/win situation: he was able to grow the business, while helping students gain much needed experience and later be absorbed into full time employment.
Since then, Bright Path Business Consultants Inc has gone on to service a range of clients from corporates and government to projects large and small. TJ has been selected to sit on several boards, including Groote Schuur and Life Choices, is a director of his former employer, and has supported several youngsters through his firm’s Walk A Child campaign, which provides school shoes for learners.
His aim now, TJ says, is to see the interns who started out as interns with Bright Path Business Consultants settled in their own homes, with their own cars and, eventually, to see one of them take over as the head of the firm.
‘I don’t run a business just so that I can be self-employed, but so that I can watch the people who work here changing their lives,’ he says. ‘That’s why mentorship is so important to me. I always found that help appeared just when I had given up hope, and that’s why I want to help others along their path.’
Communication: the key to success
TJ maintains that if there were a single ingredient that contributes to the success of an individual or organisation, it’s communication.
This is a belief he has taken to heart in his role as mentor. ‘I don’t take for granted the idea that people know what they want out of life. I always listen to them, so that I can find out what makes their heart beat – and once I know that I know how to help them.’ It’s important to help others grow where you can, he continues, because when they grow, so does everyone else.
Author Lisa Witepski | Photographer Theana Breugem