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JENNIFER MPHO LEBETHE

TSELA LE LEBAKA – PATH AND PURPOSE

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style”
― Maya Angelou

Featured Works

My Work

Entrepreneurship

“The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.“

― Oprah Winfrey

My first memory of entrepreneurial behaviour was having a front row seat to my grandmother’s journey in entrepreneurship unfold right in front of my eyes. Having witnessed her journey I embarked on my own at a very early age. At the age of 7 I charged my family to wash the dishes, at the age of 9 I became a minor league loan shark charging hefty interest on R20 loans, and at 16 I started baking and selling muffins at school with my best friend. In 2018 I qualified as a Chartered Accountant and chose the road less travelled to pursue what was perhaps an itch of a lifetime, entrepreneurship.

I believe that entrepreneurship is the vehicle that will alleviate unemployment in Africa. I have chosen the arena of entrepreneurship education as my contribution to the world.

Women & Girls Empowerment

“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.”

― Maya Angelou

I mentor girls in high school and young professional women through my organization Miss Empowered which was founded in 2012 to empower women from all walks of life in matters of career and personal leadership.

As a young black female I have been blessed to have mentors in all spheres of life and at different pinnacle points. Their guidance and encouragement has pushed me and exponentially impacted my journey in ways I could never have imagined. For this reason I avail myself for individual and group mentorship sessions so that I can pay it forward.

A Seat at the Table was born more out of necessity to address the inequalities experience by young black female professionals in corporate spaces.

Conversation Strategist

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”

― George Bernard Shaw

I love storytelling and I love progressive dialogues. What I find often sparks a spirit of motivation, a desire to learn more and build a wealth of knowledge for myself and others, are thought provoking conversations. The kinds of conversations that leave you energized and yearning for more long after they have ended. The kinds of conversations that seek not to regurgitate what we already know but that challenge us to dig deeper to find answers or come up with solutions. They are informative, they are educational and they are powerful.

I use dialogue as a means to ignite passion and bring value to various stakeholders through facilitation, moderation & speaking engagements.

About Me

Mpho graduated with a BCom Accounting Postgraduate Degree from the University of Cape Town and went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant having completed her articles at Deloitte & Touché South Africa. Thereafter, she rendered services to Deloitte & Touché Boston, while exploring the entrepreneurial landscape throughout the USA including Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.

She is passionate about women empowerment and youth development which lead to the creation of Miss Empowered in 2012. A non-profit organization that provides mentorship and career guidance to girls in high schools and has since evolved to include events such as ‘A Seat at the Table’, which seeks to equip young women professionals with the tools and skills they require to advance in their chosen careers.

She is passionate about building sustainable and impactful businesses in Africa. In 2016 she Co-Founded Building Blocks Pty Ltd which provides Entrepreneurship Education to High school students through a bespoke curriculum that teaches one how to enterprise themselves. In 2019 she began work on a solution that will facilitate the growth of SME’s in Africa to transform these entities into Smart SME’s.

Her entrepreneurial adventures span from the USA to Hong Kong, Kenya, Rwanda and back home to South Africa.

During her tenure at the University of Cape Town she served as a Candidate Fellow of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation and graduated as a Fellow in April 2016. In 2019 she served as a Fellow in Residence at the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation creating entrepreneurial tools for the development of future entrepreneurs.

“My motto is simple – Tsela Le Lebaka – which means Path and Purpose, because I believe we were all put on this earth for a particular reason. Whatever path you find yourself on at any point in time, can be purposeful in your journey to discovering and creating yourself.” – Mpho

When she is not building her empire, she is planning events, reading a book or spending time with her loved ones.