PROFILE
IT'S BACK TO THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS; WITH THE GOOD DOCTOR THABO PITSE
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| Dr. Thabo Pitse |
By: Debbie Bloodmoon
The basic synopsis of Robert. T Kiyosaki’s; Rich Dad, Poor
Dad basically says that you can be the most intelligent person ever, but if you
are from a poor family, you will never make it, and you could be the dumbest
human ever and be from a rich family and you will make it. It all boils down to
programming and how you were raised. The things you hear from home are
basically the motivation you use to change the life you were handed when you
were born, and no one knows that better than Dr. Thabo Pitse
Hailing from the 3rd biggest city in South Africa,
Dr. Thabo Pitse still speaks highly of Kroonstad, matter of fact he represents
it with such pride and honour. He takes a trip down memory lane from being an
Afrikaans Opera singer, to how he went from hand-me-downs to the one giving
back in ways he only could imagine. From studying medicine and dropping it because
racism doesn’t really let a black man live; to becoming one of the most
prolific entrepreneurs and business coaches out there, with a heart of gold and
constant need for intellectual growth; it is hard not to be inspired by the Free State
native.
On Friday the 28th of January, I had the pleasure of
sitting down with ActionCoach's top coach and the founder of Entrepreneur and Business Literacy Institute, popularly known as EBL Institute; to get to understand why he choose business and not
medicine and what drives his need to want to help entrepreneurs so selflessly.
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| image courtesy of www.google.com/image Dr. Thabo Pitse and other singers at Rectors Concert |
Hey, how are you this morning?
Hey, I'm good, just came out of a meeting right now but I am
good.
So, before we get into the heavy things, I just want to know, how was it
like growing up in Bloemfontein and how many siblings do you have?
Well, just a small correction, I was actually born and bred
in Kroonstad, outside Bloem. I have two sisters and I am in the middle. We were
raised by a single mother, who was a domestic worker, we lived in a back room,
we were very poor but I never felt it because we were loved. We grew up very
happy, we always had food to eat, we were always clean and well looked after.
My mom was utterly responsible and although she had help from the white family
she was working for; she was very strict and made sure we prayed. She raised us
with a whole lot of principles and manners and one thing that still stands out
till today is the fact that she always spoke life to me and because of that, I
was the poorest guy at school, but the most well-mannered, eloquently dressed
and an A student that people couldn’t tell until they saw where I lived. My mom
used to tell people that I was going to be a tycoon one day and I believed it.
We share a similar history of being raised by single mothers,
who were helped by the domestic families that they worked for, is there anything
you saw from your mother, that propelled you to want to be an entrepreneur?
No, not really. I used to look at my mother and I always
thought ‘’gosh I want to build this woman a house’’, a lot of people cry black
tax, but I don’t see it that way. I still look after the house and her. Like I
said, she used to speak life into me, saying I am going to be a tycoon and I
believed it. I was walking around daydreaming and my dreams were always
imagining myself in things I would see, like a helicopter passing by or seeing
an expensive car. I would see myself in a boardroom, with the people working
for me. I didn’t know what it meant, but that is how my dream started and how
it evolved. The picture was so clear, the vision was even clearer. I was a poor
boy, but I walked around with a rich and wealthy mindset.
So, there is a bit of confusion here, your profile says you
are a doctor, but also a serial entrepreneur. Are you a doctor in the medical
term or are you a Ph.D.?
Well, I am an actual medical doctor. After high school, I went and
studied medicine at Free State University. Even though I got a bursary
from the Premier of the Free State, I had to work to get the application fee. I went
to one of my teachers and asked if I could wash their car for the pay of R20
every Friday until I made the R80 for my application fee, and by the grace of
God, she said yes. For my internship, I got an opportunity to go work in the UK, which lasted about a week. A patient chased me out, when
I asked why, one of the consulted told me that ‘’if a patient doesn’t want to
see you or be treated by you, they have the right to say so.’’ I decided that I
wasn’t going to work in that kind of environment, and then I found a job as a
waiter and when everyone asked me what I was studying I always said: “I am in
my last year of medicine”. When I came back home, I didn’t even finish my community
service, I told myself that I am going to do what I want to do and that is how
I transitioned from medicine into business.
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| image courtesy of www.google.com/image |
So, when you transitioned into business, did you go to California
State University, or was that for medicine?
So, yeah. I mean I went back to Free State University to
study business and while I was there, I had this big project that I was doing,
which I later turned into a business. Which was a business development company
and in between that is when I left. Two years into being a businessman is when
I went to California State University. I am a practitioner and an academic, I
always look for a reason to study, even now I still continue studying, because
I know the value of education.
Clarification for those that don’t know the difference, but what
is the difference between a business consultant and a business coach?
Ahhh…that is a simple one. When you are consulting you are
basically doing things for clients and they pay you for that. However, coaching is when you encourage a client or a brand to do things for themselves, almost
empowering them with the necessary skills to do what consultants would
basically do for them. That’s why I chose coaching because if you wanted a business
plan, I am not going to do it for you, but we will have a session on where I
coach on what to do and how to do it, for yourself.
You are the crème de la crème of the business coaching
world. You have been at the top of the ActionCoach list for a while now, why
ActionCoach, and what is ActionCoach for those who aren’t familiar with it?
So, a little bit of a background…when you are as educated as
I am, everyone calls themselves a coach and I didn’t want to be that cliché.
For me to be an actual coach I needed to associate myself with a credible
institution and that is why I chose it. ActionCoach is by far one of the
biggest and most successful coaching firms in the world. It was founded by the
billionaire Brad Sugars and for me because of the creditability I wanted to
have (and I am saying this from the humblest point of view) and also with the
level I am at, I had to find a proper institution and that is why I went to
ActionCoach.
I mean if you look at it, I am one of the 3 black people out
of the 62 franchises in Africa who have a franchise and in my very first year I
went up the ranks. I rank number one in the whole of Africa and that means I am
the one who banks the most, more than any other coach in Africa. So, this thing
that white people are better than us is purely rubbish.
''There is always a process and you should allow it to happen. Defining and believing in the process takes you away from wanting instant gratification. So basically define your process and stay in your lane''- The Good Doctor Thabo Pitse
So, following up on this, you are still part of ActionCoach
but in 2014 you started your own business, Entrepreneur and Business Literacy
Institute (EBL Institute), what was the inspiration behind that?
When I was starting my business and I was at business school,
I would go to places like SOE’s and your NYDA, and every time they always wanted
to put us into training for us to get to a certain level and I realised that
some of them were training us without credentials. So, I thought to myself ‘’they
want to empower an African child, they want them to understand things, yet we give
them people who don’t know what they are talking about’’, that is when I told
myself I wanted to empower people and that’s how I found my niche. People were
being fed crumbs and rubbish in these trainings and I told myself I want to empower
people who are in business or who want to go into business and I then realised
that small businesses are the ones that create employment and if we want to grow
the economy as a country then that is who we should look at. That is how EBL
was born, we wanted to build a university-accredited program, that will not
have red tapes for entrepreneurs to come into. We don’t only give people accredited
university modules but there is also the coaching side, where we help people
implement the ideas they have because not everyone is creative.
On your website, it says the program is fully funded, how
true is that?
You neh Debbie, everything that is free has no value. It is
fully funded but then what we do is that we have a commitment fee. People used
to sign up and then drop the course after 2-3months and think they can come
back. The commitment fee is a kind of registration that covers your
certification fee and your graduation services. You are able to pay the fee
over a period of 6months, to show that it is really not about the money.
Over the last two years we have seen schools transition into
the digital world, has EBL joined the online world too?
Yes, it is. We also transitioned fully in 2020. However, we
also have 3 contact sessions where we go to different provinces and meet
the students. The first contact session happens during the induction, then
there is an assessment and the last one is the graduation, which becomes a conference,
where speakers like Vusi Thembakwayo and Lebo Gunguluza get to attend and give
students the experience of networking with people in the industry.
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| image courtesy of EBL Institute Fom right: Vusi Thembakwayo and EBL students |
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| imagine courtesy of www.google.com/image/getty Left: Vusi Thembakwayo and Lebo Gunguluza |
''People think business is just doing what your heart tells you and it is not like that. Education is fundemental.''- Dr. Thabo Pitse
You are so big on school but your initiatives don’t only apply to people who are educationally advantaged but also entrepreneurs who weren’t as privileged to get the education, was that a conscious decision?
Yes, it was, because that is part of community building, ‘’no
child left behind.’’ Nelson Mandela once said, ‘’Education is the key to
success”. I am a believer of ‘’seeking knowledge first and then doing’’, so I don’t
get into things one foot in and another out.
You usually say your passion saved you when you were broke,
but really what did you do with that very first big cheque?
When I started the EBL business, I wrote a business
proposal, turned it into a business plan and I told myself I will go and present it
to businesses and companies along with an implementation plan, so people can buy
into it. So, my very first deal was a seven-figure deal and out of that deal, I
had worked it out so that I get a commission of 20%, which amounted to R300 000,
which I then took straight to my wife who is too a medical doctor because she didn’t
believe in the business side of me (laughs). In a way, I was playfully proving
her wrong.
Talking family and proving people wrong, we always preach that
children should stay children until they can’t anymore, but with the rise of social
media we have seen a lot of teenagers have become business savvy and in one of
your interviews you promote teenpreneurship, why is that?
Yes, I do encourage it. We have an entrepreneurship in-school program, that is also within the Free State University, there is also
a global franchise called SAGE. The reason for this is to encourage development
within the lower stages because that is where the best talent comes from (if
you look at the sports world), that’s why our motto is ‘’to start them young.’’
We want to help develop their entrepreneurial mindset at a young age, so when
they go into the employment market after university, they are well equipped
with the skills and knowledge to make business decisions.
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| image courtesy of EBL Institute. Student Development Program |
In your opinion, do you think the government is doing enough
to promote financial literacy in the black community, especially in relation to
creatives and entrepreneurs?
Politics affect businesses all the time and as I did my
research as I got further into business, I realised that South Africa has the
best constitution in the world, but the problem is in the implementation
process of it. South Africa has also got one of the best business supports in
their strategies and structures, the problem is again the implementation feed
by corruption.
In closing, what advice can you give someone who started out
like you, someone with little to no opportunities?
First of all, one needs to find their identity, poverty doesn’t
define you, it is just a circumstance, it is not you. Your identity lies in who
you are, who you want to be, and what you want to become, in relation to your
dreams. Once you find your identity, write it down, after that you just need to
develop a mindset of believing in yourself, no matter how hard it is. Once you
have conjured your confidence, believe in the process of the journey.
The EBL Institute application will be closing today, 31
January 2022, but the good Dr. will extend application closing by a week for
anyone who wishes to apply.
To apply click on the link below:
061 512 448517 Louw Wepener St,
Dan Pienaar,
Bloemfontein,
9301
, South Africa
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