The girl who sold tomatoes becomes the woman who transformed HR at major corporations
Growing up in a rural village and watching her parents toll to make ends meet for the family was one of the reasons that inspired Maggie Mojapelo to become a success.
Mojapelo is the founder of her management consultancy, The Human Touch.
The 60-year-old told Business Report that she grew up in a home that had no running water or electricity and began her journey into the world of entrepreneurship at the tender age of 10.
She said her mother juggled three demanding jobs as she raised seven children.
Mojapelo was inspired and that was when she started selling tomatoes.
Mojapelo said, “It started with my father. He was a man who struggled every day of his life but refused to let hardship stop him from being a provider to his family and the broader community, while pushing his children to be the best they could be.”
She said this meant she had a responsibility to show him that she could do what he did and do it even better.
It was a way for her to celebrate him and his belief in her.
“I was raised by people that were hungry for something. So, I know nothing - I just know hunger, and I know follow-through. That has always made me look at what I can do,” Mojapelo said.
Apart from starting her company in 2011, she is also a sought-after executive, a revered board member, chair of multiple committees and a consultant.
Initially pursuing a career in medicine to honour her father’s wishes, Mojapelo said she realised that her true calling lay elsewhere.
She said she explored teaching, pharmacy, and psychology.
She achieved an MBA from Henley Business School and completed multiple leadership programmes at prestigious institutions like Harvard and WITS Business School.
After getting married, she said her husband encouraged her to then study psychology which was something she said she always wanted to do.
The girl who sold tomatoes soon became the woman transforming HR functions for major corporations such as IBM, Nedbank, Avon Justine, and Coca-Cola South Africa; the woman who was headhunted for her strategic vision and ability to align HR with business goals for top companies like McDonald’s South Africa.
“I always start by considering the value I can add to an organisation. I always ask ‘what can I do for you?’ That has served me well for decades,” she said.
Without financial support and external assistance, she told Business Report that the launch of her business felt like a risk.
Now, many successful years later, she speaks proudly of how “this black-owned company, a women-owned company, started by itself and continued to grow and lead by itself.”
Mojapelo was running an end-to-end management consultancy that specialised in people performance.
Fast-forward to 2024, with Mojapelo turning sixty in September, The HR Touch is rebranding as The Human Touch (THT).
“Our job as The Human Touch is for companies to see that HR is actually a function that enables businesses to get value out of their key asset - people - and to create and sustain an environment that supports people to add exceptional value to their company. Our rebrand reflects that,” she said.
“The Human Touch is an expression of my personal experience, my upbringing, my personal beliefs, and myself as a child who was raised by people who had nothing but made something. That continues to inspire me; you don’t have to wait for someone to do something for you. You can do it, and you need to enable others to make something out of something,” Mojapelo said.
She further added, “We are not just getting into this because one day we woke up and didn’t know what else to do. This choice was something by design; we have filled ourselves up with the right knowledge, the right experience, and the right thinking, which we now bring into an organisation and show the value we add. We understand you. We can customise every problem based on what the problem is all about.”
BUSINESS REPORT