Life [growing up] was beautiful and very pleasant… I was birthed under an Ukhamba tree… it made my entry into the world special. It wasn’t a tough upbringing… My mother is a retired teacher – a hardworking, phenomenal woman… My father is in the football business. I was raised by really hardworking, hard praying parents…
— Thapelo Mokoena
Every week The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviews a famous person about her or his attitude to money (hopes and fears, successes and failures, etc.) as part of his weekly “Make Money Mondays, Personal Edition” feature.
This week Whitfield interviewed Thapelo Mokoena, a South African actor and television presenter best known for his role as Quinn (Deputy Director of the CIA-like PBI) in M-Net’s “Trackers”.
The series, based on Deon Meyer’s book by the same name, is one of the largest local productions in many years.
Mokoena is also known for presenting Fear Factor South Africa.
He owns his own production company (Thapelo Mokoena Productions).
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What is it that Mokoena believes about money?
-
Does it keep him up at night?
- How did his childhood experiences shape his views on money?
I’m in the wine, craft beer and restaurant business… the idea is to diversify… as an artist, it’s really hard to build wealth… recently launched a taproom in Cape Town called Ukhamba TapRoom… I’m in partnership with the Bosman family – we produce a wine together…
— Thapelo Mokoena
Accounting wasn’t for me… I had no idea I could study anything in the arts… To get myself out of Ladysmith I picked accounting… After six months [at Wits] I saw a film-school where I saw people that looked like I felt… I pitched it to my parents… eventually, they supported my move…
— Thapelo Mokoena
Listen to the interview in the audio below (and scroll down for more quotes from it).
I’d say about 90% of the crew and cast [of Trackers] is South African… Our director is European and one of the co-stars is from the USA and another is from Germany…
— Thapelo Mokoena
He [Deon Meyer] is a good man… He had to have control. It’s his story… he was very involved… he made sure it stayed true to the book…
— Thapelo Mokoena
My youngest brother works with me in the craft-beer business… another brother works for Red Bull… all we know is work… My grandfather used to say ‘if you remember you are hungry, it means you’re not working hard enough’…
— Thapelo Mokoena
I’ve got two sons and I need to make sure they too grow up to be phenomenal men…
— Thapelo Mokoena
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