Founder Friday : Stokvel Academy

Busi Skenjana, founder of Stokvel Academy and CEO of BSK Marketing, doesn’t tell a polished, linear story about entrepreneurship. Hers is shaped by instinct, environment, and a relentless pull toward independence long before the word “startup” entered everyday vocabulary. “I grew into it,” she says simply. That growth began early. At an early age in Evaton, she had her first exposure to business through her grandfather’s cattle farm, where she helped sell milk before heading to school. It wasn’t framed as entrepreneurship then, but the foundations were clear. initiative, responsibility, and an early understanding that value could be created from what was around her.

From Corporate Discomfort to Township Enterprise

Despite studying marketing and entering the corporate world, Busi quickly realized it wasn’t where she belonged. The environment, she explains, was not just professionally limiting but personally draining. “The environment was extremely toxic… it was not about work-related issues. There was an element of discrimination that I just couldn’t ignore.” Instead of staying, she stepped away and returned to something far more familiar her family’s fish and chips shop, grocery store, and butchery business in Soweto in the late 1980s. That decision defined everything that followed. “I never looked back,” she says. Working in township retail grounded her in the realities of business cash flow, customers, and community far removed from corporate theory, while also shaping her understanding that township economies operate through powerful, often overlooked systems.

Seeing What Others Missed

By the late 1990s, Busi returned to marketing but this time on her own terms. She launched her first agency from a garage in Soweto after identifying a gap: mainstream marketing strategies were failing to connect with Black communities. “I saw a gap,” she explains. “Big agencies were engaging communities through roadshows and activations, but they weren’t really understanding where people actually gather.” What she saw instead were deeply embedded social structures weddings, funerals, and family gatherings spaces where communities naturally converge. Having observed how industries like liquor already leveraged these environments informally, her thinking was simple: why not apply the same approach to everyday consumer goods? That insight became the foundation of her business and a turning point in township-focused experiential marketing.

Control, Scale, and Starting Again

Her early success quickly drew attention. Within two years, her agency was acquired by a major marketing firm, exposing her to corporate scale, systems, and structure for the first time but at the cost of control. “The main thing was control,” she reflects. “As an entrepreneur, you have a vision. The last thing you want is someone restricting that.” By 2002, she stepped away and founded BSK Marketing, determined to build a business that combined structure with independence. Today, BSK Marketing is a recognised name in community-based marketing, particularly within the stokvel segment a space Busi didn’t just enter, but helped shape.

Untapped Potential of Stokvels

For Busi, stokvels are far more than savings groups. They are structured, community-driven economic systems with significant influence. “There are huge numbers of people coming together for one purpose saving money,” she says. “That’s why both FMCG and financial institutions are so interested in this segment.” But despite the scale, much of the value remains underutilised. “Unfortunately, most of that money still goes back into consumption.” That realization marked another shift in her work.

From Saving to Wealth Creation

In 2013, Busi founded the Stokvel Academy to reposition stokvels from short-term savings mechanisms into tools for long-term wealth creation. “The gap was education,” she explains. “People needed to understand how to use part of that money to build wealth for generations.” Through workshops, digital platforms, and partnerships with financial institutions, the academy equips communities with practical financial knowledge while respecting the cultural foundations of stokvels. “It must not be confused with marketing products,” she adds. “It must be a genuine effort to educate.”

Resilience, Creativity, and Staying the Course

Busi’s career spans decades, industries, and multiple reinventions. What has sustained her is simple: “Passion.” That same energy extends into her personal life, where gardening becomes a space for creativity and patience qualities that mirror her approach to business. “You have to be creative… and it’s the same in business. You have to innovate continuously.” This mindset has kept her relevant in a constantly evolving landscape, from township retail to digital transformation.

Advice for the Next Generation

For young entrepreneurs navigating funding constraints, compliance pressures, and limited resources, her advice is direct: “Believe in yourself. Don’t allow doubt to dominate you.” While she acknowledges the realities of limited funding, she cautions against using it as a barrier, noting that many township businesses are built through determination and resourcefulness. “Start with what you have,” she says. “And reach out find mentors, find support.”

A Legacy Rooted in Collective Power

Reflecting on her journey, Busi returns to a principle that has underpinned her work: collective economics. “I want to see more young people embracing the stokvel model as a tool for economic empowerment,” she says. “It’s tried, it’s tested and it works.” Through the Stokvel Academy and her broader work, she is building more than businesses she is shaping a system of thinking where communities don’t just save together, but create and sustain wealth together.

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