The African Billionaire Inspiring The Continent With Green

The story of Agilitee’s founder, the African Billionaire who build a $20 billion green technology & AI firm, reads like a tale encapsulating the spirit of defying the odds, self-determination, commitment, and unparalleled consistency.

It is also a narrative that illustrates how a vision that had its roots in South Africa has transformed into Africa and other parts of the world.

To tell and appreciate this billionaire’s journey, it is perhaps more important to roll back to 2005.

In 2003 at the age of 18, he started what was then known as KingPin Records which was a gospel music entertainment company that had 3 recording artists and also did gospel music concerts. This is what made him a young millionaire, from this he grew stronger in 2005 when he was 20 he started Lamba Corporation which became his holding company for all his business activities.

A bigger break came in 2007 when he founded Verityhurst which is his private equity firm that he invests through on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. 2007 is the same year that brought him great misfortune because it is the year that his Mercedes Benz crashed with a Daihatsu and led to the death of a father and son and this changed Lamba’s life dramatically.

Verityhurst invested in companies like Mtn, DRD Gold, Sibanye Gold, Harmony Gold, and Labat Africa just to name a few. Of the success of this,  a mining company called EAR was formed in 2008  and later sold to Mazakhele Investments in 2011.

In 2010 Lamba was doing so well that it didn’t sit well with a particular faction of White Monopoly capital that an attack on his reputation started from a publication that is controlled by this racist group of white power to such an extent that Lamba was arrested for the culpable homicide case of 2008 sent to jail with no bail.

He fought until he got bail from a black magistrate, when a white magistrate heard of it the bail was rescinded by the white magistrate a month later and Lamba had to go back to jail and was put in awaiting trial for 5 years with no bail before even the case was heard in court.

At the end of the case Lamba agreed with the family of the deceased to pay R1 million in cash and R60, 000 per month for 5 years since it was the main breadwinner who died in the car accident, however, the magistrate canceled the retribution deal, sentenced Lamba and the family lost R1 million which had to be refunded by Lamba’s counsel back to Lamba and an additional R60 000 per month which was a total of R3.6 million aldo canceled. A family that lost its loved ones also lost R4.6 million from Lamba, even though the money wouldn’t bring them back but it would make a financial difference all because there was a big determination to lock Lamba in jail and throw the keys far away. He didn’t give up and soldiered on until his return.

Lamba returned from prison and he built a $20 billion business that is an addition to the billionaire’s portfolio of investments. As much as Lamba has invested for profit, succeeded, and never lost money on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, however, his notable investments are where he saved two Johannesburg Stock Exchange during Covid-19, one from liquidation and one from being delisted by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for failure to submit audited financial accounts.

In 2020 he was approached to save a JSE-listed private school group called Pembury Lifestyle Group Ltd which was on the verge of being liquidated by one of its creditors at a time when 200 teachers were about to lose their jobs and salaries were not going to be paid from that month going forward. Through his private equity, Verityhurst, Lamba was faced with a choice to either pay salaries or settle the creditors and stop the liquidation since he was approached 3 days before the end of the month. He chose to pay salaries and save the jobs of a little over 200 white teachers even though all his business life he has been attacked and discredited by some white powerful people in South Africa. He didn’t look at the color of the skin of the teachers but at them as parents who had obligations to their families and debt obligations such as mortgage bonds, car installments, and medical aid just to name a few, and chose to pay millions of rands to salaries not even having met the creditors at the time. He was prepared to lose the money as long as these teachers got paid, he later met the creditors and paid them to stop the liquidation.

Lamba gave this company millions in loans that had no interest and this was the first time something like this had happened on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Lamba repeated this by saving another property development company that is also listed on the JohannesburgStockExchange, Visual International Holdings which needed cash infusion and was suspended by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for failure to submit audited financial statements on time. Lamba paid the auditor’s debt, paid for the new audit, and injected over R6 Million loan with no interest in the company and later converted into shares.

The company was reinstated back to trading by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange