Tiisetso Ramasoga, 34, grew up in Soweto with dreams of becoming a scientist. A mining engineer turned entrepreneur, he is driving significant progress in Africa’s mining and logistics sectors. As the founder and managing director of Equilibrium Resources, Tiisetso oversees everything from strategic business development to driver logistics, cross-border commodity trading and courier operations. He worked at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng Mine, the deepest mine in the world. But in 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, he walked away from a stable job at South32 to pursue entrepreneurship full-time. “I had no trust fund or safety net. But I had faith, grit and a vision,” he says. Since then, Tiisetso has led projects across Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and secured B2B deals with East African Holdings, DP World and Unitrans. He’s also closely affiliated with the Black Business Council. Beyond business, he employs and trains young black drivers and supports school shoe and sanitary pad initiatives in rural North West. A man of faith and purpose, Tiisetso says, “God being excellent calls us to be excellent too. I give 100% in all I do.”
My mentor and business partner, Mr Gregory Mofokeng (Vice-President of the Black Business Council), has exposed me to working with large companies and influential people I probably would not have been able to meet on my own. He also pushes me to incorporate excellence into everything I do. I have learnt a great deal about business from him and continue to learn from him. My father, Rapula Ramasoga, is my main inspiration for going into entrepreneurship because he is also a businessman. Growing up, I saw first-hand from him how financially rewarding business can be, and also how you can be in control of your own time — which I believe is the most important resource a human can have.