Biography
Dr Steven Zwane is a Nelson Mandela Scholar, academic, executive leader, and social impact strategist whose work focuses on entrepreneurship education, youth development, leadership, and inclusive economic participation.
In 2006, Steven was awarded the prestigious Nelson Mandela Scholarship from the Canon Collins Trust to study for an MBA in the United Kingdom. Through this scholarship, he met Nelson Mandela on two occasions, a life-changing experience that deepened his commitment to education, service, and social transformation.
Born in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, Steven began formal schooling only at the age of 11 after spending his early years herding cattle. He later supported himself by polishing shoes, selling sweets at school, and organising beauty pageants. These formative experiences shaped his lifelong passion for skills development, entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment.
Steven currently serves as Senior Lecturer at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, where he teaches entrepreneurship, strategy, and operations management. He is also Managing Director of PAPO Communications, founder of the Rising from the Township platform, and founder and former Chairperson of Youth Leadership and Entrepreneurship Development, an organisation established in 2004 to empower young people through leadership, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and career-readiness programmes.
He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and held senior executive roles at Barclays Africa and Absa Group, where he led major initiatives in shared value, corporate citizenship, entrepreneurship development, financial inclusion, youth employability, and stakeholder engagement across African markets.
Steven holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Durham University Business School, an MBA from Durham University, and a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Zululand. He has published teaching cases and research on entrepreneurship, township economies, and youth enterprise development, and is co-author of Rising from the Township – Inspiring Stories of South African Entrepreneurs.
He currently serves on the Board of Junior Achievement Africa and continues to work at the intersection of education, enterprise, leadership, and social impact, helping young people move from dependency to dignity through opportunity, agency, and entrepreneurship.