A Head of Rekindle Learning, a South African start-up working on mobile e-learning solutions, Rapelang Rabana is co-founder of Yeigo Communications, an innovative company that developed some of the first mobile VoIP applications. Communication software that allows you to call, send emails and messages for free via the Internet. The young woman collects distinctions. Last year, she made the cover of the prestigious American magazine Forbes, ranked among the thirty best young African entrepreneurs.
Recently awarded at the World Entrepreneurship Forum, she is also on the Oprah Power List 2012, alongside personalities such as Aung San Suu Kyi, Lady Gaga or Dalia Ziada. But the real consecration for her remains to have been quoted by CNN as being one of the “Marissa Mayers of Africa”, in reference to the one who holds the position of CEO at Yahoo!. “I was very touched by such a comparison with the technology giants of Silicon Valley,” she says.
A fierce independent
After a childhood spent between Gaborone, Botswana, and Johannesburg, South Africa, Rapelang studied in Cape Town where she obtained a scientific baccalaureate, specializing in computer science. If programming is not her strong point, she nevertheless chooses to continue on this path, full of promise for the future. “Unlike finance, accounting or marketing, IT allows you to create value from nothing, just a little imagination. I find that very inspiring.” Creating your own business quickly appears to be a necessity. Not that she is particularly rebellious or courageous, she concedes, but out of a taste for independence. Adhering to a company policy, defined on the basis of priorities that are not his own, does not interest him. “I would have felt like I was losing control of my destiny and that seemed riskier to me than launching a start-up,” she told Ventures Africa.