Darkness often feels like defeat. When the lights go out, when the client cancels, when sales dip and cash dries up, it feels like an ending. Yet, what if it isn’t? What if the dark is not a grave but a womb, a place where something new is quietly being formed? Shadows can be teachers.…| rochemamabolo
Every flower you admire began underground. Before the petals, before the fragrance, before the applause of spring, there were roots. Hidden, silent, unseen. Entrepreneurship is much the same. Before anyone calls you “successful,” before there are headlines or Instagram-worthy launches, there are seasons where nothing looks like it’s happening. It’s late nights when your neighbours…| rochemamabolo
“There’s a flower that grows in the darkness. It’s called Lirio de los Valles. It actually does better in the shade. It blooms… in spite of the darkness. You remind me of that flower.” — Queen of the South The Lily of the Valley does not need the sun to show its beauty. In fact,…| rochemamabolo
Outside, the full moon rests in the sky. Unlike the sun, it does not demand attention. It does not burn or blind. It does not rush the world into action. Instead, it glows quietly, softly. Its light is borrowed, yet it carries its own magic. Bessie Head, in Maru, saw this contrast clearly. Moleka, like…| rochemamabolo
It’s tempting, when we see someone stuck or wandering, to point out the path we think they should take. We want to spare them pain, shortcut the confusion, and share what worked for us. But life doesn’t always bend to borrowed directions. Showing someone the way doesn’t mean they’ll take it. Sometimes, they even resist,…| rochemamabolo
Long ago in Delhi, the British put up a sign: “We pay for every dead cobra.” At first, brilliant. Dead cobras poured in. Then people started breeding cobras just to kill them. When the scheme was scrapped, the breeders released their snakes. Result? More cobras than before. That’s the Cobra Effect, a well-intended incentive that…| rochemamabolo
Life is indeed a game, and one of its oldest and most enduring games is the status game. From the dusty playground of a township school to the glass boardrooms in Sandton, from a family gathering in Limpopo to a Twitter thread that goes viral in seconds, people are measuring, comparing, ranking. Who belongs where?…| rochemamabolo
When we hear the word elite, our minds often run to wealth, power, or privilege. But there’s another kind of elite, the quiet, unassuming group who are not rich in money, but rich in curiosity, not powerful in politics, but powerful in passion, not elite in taste because of labels or price tags, but because…| rochemamabolo
Before you buy your first property, before you launch your first business, before you invest in shares or write that book, you must first build the foundation: yourself. You are the seed from which all your assets will grow. If the seed is weak, the harvest will be small. But if the seed is strong,…| rochemamabolo
There’s a kind of magic in assets. They are like invisible employees, tireless, faithful, and loyal. They show up every morning without asking for transport money, they don’t complain about the wea…| rochemamabolo
