The small R350 tip that spawned an award-winning marketing agency

By Koketso Mamabolo

“Hao o eletsa batho dilo tse ntle le bona ba tla ho eletsa botle (When you wish good for others, they will in-turn wish you great things),” said Kabelo Ncholo’s late great-grandmother, Mosela Magdaline Ncholo, describing the communal, collaborative essence of empowerment. Not satisfied with merely riding the wave of the success of his award-winning marketing agency, and his impressive list of accolades, Kabelo is scaling up while conscious of the broader socio-economic impact the business could have.

He’s seen significant progress in the marketing, advertising and communication (MAC) sector in the last five years, including policy changes crafted with empowerment and inclusivity in mind, such as a 10-15% increase in ownership targets, consistent with wider B-BBEE policy.

“The success of black entrepreneurs in South Africa is, and will continue to be, one of the major means of moving this country and the continent forward in terms of creating employment, economic participation, and redressing the uneven and unjust system of the past,” says Kabelo. “The sustainability of black-owned businesses is crucial to the health and stability of the African economy.”

Kabelo is leading by example, coming from humble beginnings to build a 100% black-owned “one-stop shop” marketing agency which offers below-the-line, above-the-line and digital marketing solutions, running an average of 50 campaigns a year across its six offices.

The child of a single mother who was working as a domestic worker, Kabelo describes himself as an entrepreneur by default, like many young people from townships and villages – “flying the plane while building it.”

Fresh out of matric with great results, Kabelo had been awarded a bursary to study medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand but had no means of getting to Johannesburg from the village of Bapong in the North West province. His aunt, Rebecca Seilane, gave him a lifeline of R2 000 but, unfortunately, by the time he arrived the academic year had already commenced and his only option was to shadow doctors until he could register the following year.

Little did he know at the time that he had hemophobia (an extreme aversion to blood) and after collapsing a few times, in Lenasia Hospital’s casualty ward, Kabelo realised a career in medicine was not for him.

While working as a waiter at the Mac Ribs restaurant at the Garden Court Hotel, in Milpark, Kabelo noticed room for improvement in how matric farewells were hosted. He voiced his concerns to a colleague whose response marked the genesis of Y-Brand: “Kabelo, as black people, we like to complain without taking action.” Inspired, Kabelo made a promise he would soon regret: He would either host the best matric farewell people had seen or, if he still worked at the restaurant, he would pay his colleague R10 000. He was reminded of it at every turn, and in the end it became a provocation, with him choosing to resign instead of forking out the money.

In 2002, using the R350 he had gathered in tips from a table he’d served at the restaurant, Kabelo printed out a business profile and began contacting the schools who rented out the restaurant, offering them the services of his newly-founded company, Yourself Function Organisers. He quickly secured his first four clients, making his first R100 000 at the tender age of 19. In 2004 the company was properly established after a contract from the Wits University School Mining and Law, and began trading as Yourself Events Management, before evolving into a marketing agency after Kabelo met his mentor, Michelle Combrink, a few years later.

Now Kabelo is an award-winning entrepreneur and Y-brand has been racking up awards too.

At the 2025 Future of HR Awards he was recognised as the HR Leader of the Year and at the 2024 awards the organisation took home the Employer of Choice: Small – Medium Organisations for the work its HR team has done to find the balance between productivity and making a business a great place to work. It is an organisation attracting top talent as its reputation grows.

Y-Brand is a business where the HR team takes continuous learning seriously. From attending industry events, reading HR industry journals to their active membership in the South African Board for People Practices (SABPP), the organisation keeps its finger on the pulse of industry trends and legal requirements.

By benchmarking their own practices against industry standards, and analysing data, the team at Y-Brand is able to regularly update internal policies to ensure a fair, safe, and inclusive workplace. Employee engagement surveys and feedback mechanisms allow for the organisation to respond to the needs of its people.

Examples of the benefits employees get include access to a psychologist and daily catering, as well as networking and professional development opportunities, including international travel.

Another example of how industry standards inform their approach is employee training and development initiatives. Y-Brand places a strong emphasis on hiring interns and young professionals who are able to gain valuable hands-on experience, with many being retained as permanent employees.

The company has created over a thousand job placement opportunities, focusing on graduates of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges.

Through highly successful projects, Y-Brand is creating meaningful jobs, changing lives, and helping to address the serious economic challenges which the country, and Africa, face.

If you want to make your impact impossible to ignore then the Future of HR awards are for you. There is only a week left for entries, are you ready to put your work in the spotlight?

Entries can be submitted by organisations or individuals themselves, or nominations can be made on behalf of outstanding HR leaders, teams and organisations across the available award categories.

How to enter: