The character arc of Vusi Thembekwayo
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 21 March 1985 in Benoni, Gauteng. Between then and now sit a forensic marketing agency founded at twenty one, studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, the Gordon Institute of Business Science and Ashridge, a seat on Dragons' Den in 2014, MyGrowthFund Venture Partners, two books, and the GQ Business Leader of the Year award in 2020. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Vusi Thembekwayo?
He started the company at twenty one.
He was born in Benoni, in Gauteng, in 1985. At twenty one he founded a forensic marketing agency, which is an unusually specific thing to start at that age and an unusually early age to start anything. He studied afterwards rather than before: a management advanced programme and commerce at the University of the Witwatersrand, a postgraduate diploma in business administration at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, and an executive MBA through Ashridge and Hult.
In 2014 and 2015 he sat as an investor on the South African edition of Dragons' Den, which is where most of the country first saw him. He founded MyGrowthFund Venture Partners, a venture capital and private equity firm, and the School of Scale, a training platform for entrepreneurs, on the view that African founders need capital and craft at the same time rather than one after the other.
He wrote Vusi: Business and Life Lessons from a Black Dragon in 2017, The Magna Carta of Exponentiality in 2018 and Underdogs. He was named GQ Business Leader of the Year in 2020, given the Guardian Award at the EMY Africa Awards in 2024, and a District 74 Communication and Leadership Award in 2025. He is, by a distance, one of the most watched business speakers on the continent, which matters because the audience he is speaking to is mostly younger than he was when he started.
The moments
Vusi Thembekwayo's timeline.
The 2000s
A company at twenty one
Milestone, and it changed everything. Twenty one, and a company of his own, before any of the degrees.
The 2010s
Wits, and GIBS
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The education came after the company, which is the opposite of the usual order.
An executive MBA
Milestone. A third qualification, taken while running the firm.
Run the firm, or judge others
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: take the seat, taken, or stay behind the desk. The seat gave him the audience that MyGrowthFund and the School of Scale were both later built on.
A seat on Dragons' Den
Milestone, and it changed everything. Where most of the country first saw him, deciding who got funded.
MyGrowthFund
Milestone, and it changed everything. From being funded, to funding. It is a short sentence and a long journey.
Lessons from a Dragon
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two books in two years, written for people starting where he started.
The School of Scale
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Capital and craft at the same time, rather than one after the other.
The 2020s
Business Leader of the Year
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Fourteen years from a first company to the title.
The Guardian Award
Milestone. Two awards in two years, one of them for how he speaks.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is capital and craft going to African founders together, and a great many young people watching somebody who started where they are standing.
What he wrote
Books by Vusi Thembekwayo
- 2017
Vusi: Business and Life Lessons from a Black Dragon
His own account of starting a company at twenty one and what it cost to keep it.
- 2018
The Magna Carta of Exponentiality
On what makes a business grow quickly rather than steadily, written for African founders.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His started a company before the qualifications and got the qualifications afterwards. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Vusi Thembekwayo: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Vusi Thembekwayo's character arc?
What is Vusi Thembekwayo's MyGrowthFund?
Was Vusi Thembekwayo on Dragons' Den?
What did Vusi Thembekwayo study?
What books has Vusi Thembekwayo written?
What is Vusi Thembekwayo's School of Scale?
What awards has Vusi Thembekwayo won?
Where does this timeline of Vusi Thembekwayo's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Vusi Thembekwayo, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Dragons' Den, South African edition, investor 2014 and 2015.
- GQ South Africa, Business Leader of the Year, 2020.