Earlier this year, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Matsi Modise, 31, comfortably shared the stage with the chairperson of Coca-Cola and the founder of Airbnb.

She is part of the WEF Global Shapers programme, which gets young activists together at hubs in some 500 cities around the globe to do good. In fact, she initiated the Johannesburg and Soweto hubs. Modise is a go-getter. She believes that if there’s one thing that can change your life, it’s entrepreneurship, and she describes herself as an “entrepreneurship activist”.

She is currently the managing director of SiMODiSA, an industry association whose mission is to accelerate entrepreneurship by collaborating with policy-makers to enhance the success rate of high-impact, high-growth entrepreneurs. Previously, she was the national executive director of the South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum.

She also has her own company, Furaha Afrika Holdings, which focuses on enterprise and business development solutions. Unsurprisingly, in September 2014 Professor Klaus Schwab, the founder of the WEF, publicly acknowledged Modise for her contribution to entrepreneurship development in South Africa’s underserved communities.

To what does she attribute her success? “The fact that I travelled the road less travelled and pursued my passion and purpose.”

Find Modise on Twitter: @matsimodise

Categories: Disruptors