In 2009 Yusuf Randera-Rees had R60 000 in his pocket, Harvard and Oxford degrees in his head, and a highly unusual concept of how to make large scale systemic impact on unemployment – by identifying South Africa’s world class talent amongst micro-entrepreneurs who find themselves trapped in the informal sector.

Along the way, as he and his co-founder established a company that has raised hundreds of millions of Rands to invest in a vision ‘…to build a global society where everyone is capable of reaching their full entrepreneurial potential’, he learnt about how entrepreneurship is at an amazing intersection between leadership and economics.

To date Awethu has facilitated support for 2000 entrepreneurs, driven the creation of over 2000 jobs and has raised over R450 million to invest in their mission to build a fair South Africa through entrepreneurship.