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He’s tapping into his extensive networks to make a name as a property investor
Andile Madikizela did not have a typical township upbringing.
He was born into a middle class family, which meant that he got the best education money could buy.
Far from being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he has worked really hard to become the businessperson he is today.
City Press met with Madikizela at the premises of one of his upmarket businesses in Rosebank.
Being from a prominent family, the University of New York PhD graduate has not let the exposure he got while growing up go to waste.
Born in Dube, Soweto, his mother was a teacher and father a magistrate.
Madikizela, as a close relative of late anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, comes from royalty.
As an entrepreneur, Madikizela has managed to garner a significant property portfolio while remaining under the radar.
He did, however, decline to give the portfolio’s value.
Among the properties Madikizela Estates owns include Melrose Estate as well as Katherine & West.
“My family is from Bizana [in the Eastern Cape] but I was born in Soweto where we lived with my younger brother and cousin. Almost everyone on my father’s side of the family is either involved in business or law.
“It has always been like that and there’s a strong culture of education and almost everyone has more than one degree there,” he said.
He attended the Ridge School in the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Westcliff before moving to KwaZulu Natal’s Clifton Preparatory School and then to Michaelhouse.
“At Michealhouse I was expelled and then I went to Hilton College [also in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands],” he said laughing with boyish naughtiness.
He credits the exposure he got from private schooling with much of the success he has managed to acquire.
“In high school, I always said I wanted to be an investment banker and at that age I already knew what that was. Most of the kids’ parents were CEOs and we were exposed to a lot, including the stock market,” Madikizela said.
After matriculating at Hilton, he headed to Wits University to study law but became disillusioned with the subject.
“I changed to a Bachelor of Science in mathematics,” he said.
The decision to opt for mathematics, Madikizela said, was influenced by the fact that he was good at the subject and also that a family friend, Jonathan Beare, had a PhD in applied mathematics.
Beare, a billionaire who is considered one of the most reclusive property moguls in the country, later became his mentor.
“After Witwatersrand, I went to New York University because I wanted to finish my PhD in applied mathematics,” he said.
After almost nine years in the Big Apple, he obtained his PhD in 2014, an achievement he claims was a shock because he was very playful.
“After New York, I went to London for a few months and tried my hand in some ventures. That didn’t work out, so I came back home.
“I didn’t have a game plan after varsity and would have been okay with just being there and lecturing but I knew I had a bigger purpose,” he said.
Coming back, all Madikizela had to do was revive his rich network and because most of them were already in property it was an easy entry.
“I have never had a nine to five job but I was just brought in on small deals as mostly a mentee. The first major deal was an acquisition of an office park in Durban,” he said of the transactions that also gave him some capital to pour into his investment company – Madikizela Estates.
He describes the company as though it owns a significant property portfolio.
“We want to take companies and provide growth capital but it cannot survive in one sector of the market. Property ownership is the core to our business and it’s very sizeable,” he said.
“It’s a fact because I actually know a lot of influential people but I also protect my network because I built the relationships through trust over time. That’s my currency.”
Though Madikizela said he has always wanted to build a legacy, his family name has not always made this easy. At times it has been a burden.
“I have always wanted to be a legacy-builder and the people I looked up to spoke that language. They spoke about trust funds and family legacies,” he said.
“I don’t work on government-related transactions. I stay away from government dealings even if I know people there,” he said, adding that one of the things that made him stay away was the weight his family name carries and potential abuses he has witnessed.
On transformation in corporate South Africa, Madikizela places the blame squarely at government’s door. “Government has the power to change things but they simply choose not to,” he said.
Madikizela said contrary to popular belief, funding was not as big a problem for businesses as it was made out to be.
“There is funding out there. Funding is actually the last thing you need. Just make a business case for it,” he said.
Though from a religious Catholic family background, he was exposed to Judaism from a very young age and his spirituality has a leaning towards that religion.
“I frequent Shul [synagogue] and that has helped me keep even my business in balance.
“The Zen spirituality has made me more relaxed in pursuing deals, less aggressive and I am into that slow lifestyle,” he said.
“This slow lifestyle is called Zen and applying it as an entrepreneur is called Zenpreneur,” Madikizela said, adding that he almost lost himself when the money big deals started flowing in but was called to order by his business mentors.
An avid reader, art fanatic and keen lover of horse betting, Madikizela said like betting, he prefers to put his money on the jockey instead of the horses and that was the same strategy he has employed in choosing his business partners.
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